A Lifetime of Love
by SheeWolf85
Summary: A series of oneshots detailing how Sans and Frisk meet as children, grow up together, and eventually fall in love. Monsters were never trapped. Also contains some Grillster and some Papyton. A whole lotta fluff all around, really. Rated T to be safe; some minor language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi there! Muses have been working overtime for me, apparently. This little bundle of joy came out of nowhere, but I'm very happy with it. It's going to be roughly between 7-10 parts, depending on how much I ultimately end up writing. As of now, part 6 has been started but is not close to completion. I'll be posting daily on this one since it's so close to being done (I think).

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART ONE~*~

Grillby chuckled to himself as he watched Sans and Papyrus play on the plastic equipment. Sans, a mere six years old, was already in second grade and passing third grade math tests. He was reading at a fourth-grade level. His social skills were through the roof; he could charm his way into getting almost anything he wanted. He excelled in nearly every way.

He sure as hell was Gaster's son.

Papyrus, on the other hand, was barely three years old. He'd just started running everywhere and rarely knew how to stop talking. He adored puzzles and had even created some of his own already. He had more energy than a lightning bolt, but he wore out quickly. Even at three, he had more compassion than most adults Grillby knew. He'd give up food if he thought his brother was hungry.

Not that either of his children ever went hungry, but there had been an occasion or two where Sans tricked his younger brother into giving up his afternoon snack.

Papyrus was certainly Grillby's son.

The fire monster smiled to himself when Sans sneezed. A whiff of blue fire burst out from in between his bones and dissipated in smoke. It was adorable.

"Bless you," Grillby said.

"Thanks, Dad," the kid replied. He came up to the fire monster and held out his hands. "May I have some cleaner please?"

Such a gentleman, Grillby thought. He dug in Papyrus' baby bag and brought out the bottle of hand sanitizer. After a quick squeeze into his son's hand, he watched as Sans carefully spread it around his phalanges and metacarpals. The boy was always careful.

"You could say I've sanitized the situation," he said with a grin.

Grillby grinned back. Humor was something his son had inherited from him. Funnily enough, Papyrus seemed to have gotten his other father's no-nonsense approach to life.

"Very clever, Sans."

Sans smiled proudly and went back to playing.

The park was nearly empty. It was usually more crowded than this with many monster children playing around to keep his children company while he read. Today, it was Sans and Papyrus and another monster who seemed more interested in digging in the sand by themself in the corner. Even after Sans attempted to approach, the other monster wanted nothing to do with him. It was odd, but not altogether unheard of.

So instead of reading, Grillby kept an eye on his kids to make sure that Papyrus' energy wasn't hindering Sans' creativity. They seemed to be getting along famously, which was a nice turn of events. As compassionate as Papyrus was, he wanted things to go a certain way when playing. If the boys' ideas of the game didn't mesh, there would be screaming involved quickly.

For now, Papyrus was captain of the ancient Royal Guard and Sans was the enemy. They both played with magic, their eyes lit with fire—Papyrus with orange and Sans with blue—as they decided which attack to throw at the other. Their attacks were soft, causing no damage as they hit the other.

Grillby looked up when someone else began approaching. He was a little unnerved to find a human couple walking up with their child. They looked apprehensive, but the child was all smiles. There was some hope, he supposed.

Humans were not known for letting their children play with monsters. Humans were more known for shoving monster children down and calling them names, even when they themselves were adults.

The elemental's flames brightened just a little out of a need to protect his children.

The child—a girl that looked around Sans' age—started running toward the playground. The human parents did nothing to stop her. She stopped at the edge and looked at Grillby with a wide grin for a second.

"Can I play?" She asked with wonder in her voice.

Grillby crackled a little. "If you wish."

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. "You sound cool. You crackle and stuff."

Grillby couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I do."

"Frisk," the woman, he supposed she was the mother, chided, "don't bother the monster."

The girl scowled and looked back. "I wasn't bothering. I wanted to play."

Both the man and the woman gave Grillby and his sons a concerned frown. "Maybe this isn't the best day to play."

Without a word, the girl walked up to Sans, mid attack, and thrust her hand in his face. The bones he'd been throwing at his brother merely bounced off of her skin. She laughed.

"That tickled. I'm Frisk."

Sans looked up at her, a little miffed that she'd interrupted his game. "I was about to win."

She quirked her lips. "I'm sorry. Can I play?"

"Sure. You can be the human, and my bro and I will be the Royal Guard."

She wasn't really sure what that meant, but she liked the idea. "Okay, what do I do?"

Papyrus frowned. "NO!" he yelled.

Sans gave him a look. "Come on, Bro. It gives us authenticity."

Papyrus squirmed to stand up and ran over to his brother. "Play with you." He held his hands up.

"You are playin' with me, Paps. We can add another player, right?"

Papyrus shook his head. "NO!"

Sans groaned. "Daaaaaad!"

Grillby snickered to himself. "Papyrus, let the girl play."

He huffed and sat down hard by Sans. He crossed his arms with another huff. "She's human," he grumbled.

"Yes, she's human, but that will just give you more options to play. Please don't play Royal Guard with her. She's not an enemy."

Frisk turned to look at the fire monster with a dark look in her eyes. "But I can be," she all but growled. She turned back to the boys and pretended to capture Papyrus. "I got him!"

Grillby was impressed. Humans were usually put off by any reminder that they'd done anything wrong in the past. He could tell that her parents were exhibiting that exact behavior now. They were shifting in their seats on the bench five feet from Grillby's and whispering to each other.

"No, not my bro!" Sans called out, clearly acting. "Unhand him, you fiend!" His eyes burst into blue flame as he conjured bones to throw at Frisk. Like with his brother, the attack was soft and caused no damage.

Frisk pretended that it did. "Ow!" she yelled and toppled over.

"Frisk!" Her father cried out.

Frisk laughed. "I'm fine, Dad!" She lifted her head and gave a thumb's up before laying back down and pretending to have been badly wounded. "I'm not sure I can make it through. You guys need to help me."

Sans lifted a brow bone. "Why would we do that? You kidnapped my brother." He held Papyrus protectively as the little monster squirmed to get away.

"Because I was trying to save him from another band of humans, a bad band." She lifted her head again to look at the monsters. "It's not my fault you didn't listen to me when I said that the bad band was on their way."

"Oh." Sans put Papyrus down and went to 'save' Frisk. He used pretend healing magic. "I learned this from my dad." His eyes glowed purple as he gave a soft healing pulse.

Frisk sat up, all healed. "Is that your dad?" She pointed to Grillby.

"Yep, that's Grillby. I get my fire from him. The other stuff, like my bones, I got from my other dad."

She was utterly confused. "What about your mom?"

"I don't have a mom." Sans was confused as to why Frisk was confused. "I have two dads."

She considered that for a minute then decided to just go with it. It was pretty obvious it worked somehow or another. "My parents are over there. AnnaLee and Jordan." She waved at her mom and dad. They waved back. They had settled down a little after watching their daughter play.

Grillby watched the kids play for a little longer before he decided he'd better introduce himself to her parents. He liked to get to know the parents as much as his children liked to play with their kids. He looked over at the parents and noted that they still looked a little edgy. Perhaps getting to know him would put them more at ease.

He stood up and walked over to their bench.

"Hi, I'm Grillby," he said, without extending his hand. Most humans didn't want to touch a walking fire.

AnnaLee stood up first and smiled. "Hi. I'm AnnaLee, and this is my husband Jordan." She grabbed his shirt and tugged to get Jordan to stand up. He did and smiled at the elemental.

"Our kids seem to get along quite well." Grillby glanced back at the kids and laughed when Frisk pretended to have magic and attack an invisible enemy. Sans corrected her form.

"Frisk has always been friendly with monsters," AnnaLee said. "My mother is a bunny monster."

"Adopted mother," Jordan whispered loudly.

AnnaLee rolled her eyes. "Don't." She smiled a little too dramatically at Grillby. "Where's their mother?" She asked.

Grillby tried not to show his concern. Not only was he a monster, but he was a male monster with a husband. That didn't go over well with most humans, either. He cleared his throat.

"My, uh…my husband is at work."

"How does that work?" AnnaLee asked. Jordan elbowed her in the side. She glared at him. "I was just asking."

"Well, he works most evenings, and I work during the day. We have our weekends together, though." It was a bit tough, but it paid the bills.

AnnaLee quirked her lips. "I actually meant…I mean, I'm assuming that you guys made the baby skeletons together."

"Oh." Grillby wasn't sure for a moment why she questioned it before he realized that they probably didn't know. "We make babies with magic," he said with a bit of a blush. He knew all about how humans made babies, and it was weird. Weird, and strangely taboo. He wondered if humans considered the monsters' way of making babies also weird and taboo. If so, he probably just crossed a line. Then again, she'd asked.

"Oh, that's right," AnnaLee chuckled. "I can't believe I forgot that. I always thought that was so cool. I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable."

Grillby just smirked. "Nah. There's nothing offensive about how we make our children," he answered. "Sometimes, humans want to make it that way. I can understand, with how you…yeah. But with us, it's a lot different than…well…" He decided to stop there. He really didn't need to discuss his love life with strangers.

Instead of continuing the embarrassing conversation, he turned around to look at the kids. He barked out a laugh when he realized that Papyrus and Frisk were burying Sans in the sand. Not just burying…they were building something on top of him.

"DAD!" he screamed.

"What?"

"I'M A SANSCASTLE!"

He couldn't help but snort. "That's sans-sational!"

Sans beamed and giggled as the other two laughed along with him.

"That is adorable," AnnaLee said with a sweet smile.

Jordan even seemed to be warming up to the idea of his daughter playing with monsters. As they talked, Grillby uncovered the man's hesitation. It wasn't the fact that they were monsters; it was the fact that they had been using weapons magic near his daughter. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, least of all his own kid.

Inevitably, Sans wanted to get out of the sand. Papyrus wasn't done building. When Sans moved and caused his precious castle to crumble, Papyrus sat back and screamed.

Grillby rushed over to them, afraid someone had been hurt.

"I just wanted to get up!" Sans all but shouted.

Grillby picked up his youngest son and nodded. "It's okay, Sans. Paps is probably just getting tired."

"I'm not tired!" Papyrus grunted through tears. As he rubbed tears away, he couldn't help but rub a little harder than normal.

Grillby smiled at the sweet action. "I think you are."

"I'M NOT TIRED!" The little monster squirmed, but it didn't have his usual push. "I WANT TO PLAY!"

"What about hungry?"

Papyrus considered that for a moment. "Yeah."

"Me too!" Sans piped up. "I'm hungry."

"Me three!" Frisk whined.

AnnaLee laughed. "You ate before we came here."

She shrugged. "I'm hungry again."

"Dad! Can Frisk come over for dinner? Please, please, please, please, please?" He folded his fingers together in a begging gesture. "I promise I won't bug Paps for the rest of the night."

He looked at Frisk's parents. "I'm not the one you need to win over, Kiddo."

Sans looked at Frisk's mom and dad and swallowed hard. He glanced at Frisk. "You ask," he mumbled to her.

"You have to come with me." Frisk reached out and grabbed the still-sandy sleeve of his shirt.

That, he could deal with.

"Mom? Dad?" Frisk began.

AnnaLee smiled. "Yes, Frisk?" They were going to make her ask; this was too cute.

"Can I go over to their house for dinner?"

"Please, can she come? My dad's the best cook! I promise, we'll take care of her. I won't even use magic anymore."

AnnaLee and Jordan looked at each other. AnnaLee was all for it. It wasn't a school night. They didn't have anything planned. If anything, letting their daughter go to dinner with her new friends was a way they could get some alone time. At the same time, they had only just met one of their fathers.

"I'm assuming your husband will be home tonight?" Jordan asked.

Grillby nodded. "He usually gets home around eleven on Friday nights. Our children are allowed to stay up to see him because it's not a school night. Of course, Frisk wouldn't have to stay that long."

Frisk was granted permission to go. While the kids celebrated with hoots and high fives, the grown-ups exchanged phone numbers. Grillby gave AnnaLee and Jordan directions to his home. It was decided that they would drop her off so they could see exactly where he lived.

"Shake off, Sans," Grillby called out. "I don't want all that sand in the car."

Sans shook, his bones rattling as he did, and sand fell to the ground.

"That's a funny sound," Frisk said. "It's like a xylophone."

"I don't sound like that!" Sans retorted. "It's just my bones."

"My bones don't do that." She tried it. No rattling.

"That's cuz you're all fleshy." He reached out and pinched her arm lightly. "You squish instead of rattle. I can't squish." He tried it. "See?"

They were all soon on their way to Grillby's house.

* * *

"Can I have some more?" Frisk asked, holding up her plate.

"Of course," Grillby and Sans answered at the same time.

Grillby smiled at his son and took the girl's plate to pile more spaghetti on it. When he put the plate back in front of her, she began inhaling the pasta again.

"Sketti!" Papyrus yelled. "Sketti!"

"Do you want more, too, Paps?" Grillby asked.

Papyrus nodded. "Can I have some more sketti?"

Grillby put a little more on his youngest son's plate. "You got it, Kiddo."

"Can I sketti outta here?" Sans asked. His plate was clean. "I'm full."

"You should wait for your guest to be done," Grillby said. "It's only fair."

Sans looked at Frisk. "Are you done yet."

"Sans!" Grillby laughed.

Frisk shook her head. "Nope," she mumbled through a mouthful of noodles.

Sans sighed and waited for Frisk to finish her plate. While he was waiting, he decided to take a few noodles to draw with. Grillby didn't mind, as long as the kid was behaving himself and not making too big a mess.

As soon as Frisk was done, Sans all but dragged her to his room. He was too excited to show her some of his toys. Together, they played with Legos and talked about what they were going to be when they grew up.

Sans was going to be a scientist like his dad.

"You mean your dad downstairs?"

Sans shook his head as he connected two pieces together. "No, my other dad. He's working right now, being a real-life doctor scientist. He's so cool."

Frisk nodded and dug through the bin of Legos to find a piece she needed. "I'm gonna be a doctor, too," she said. "I'm gonna help people when they're sick."

"Dad's not that kind of doctor. He does really cool space stuff. That's what I'm gonna do, too."

"So like an astronaut?" She asked.

"No, but he helps the astronauts get home. He makes really big decisions and sometimes he saves lives." He put the last few pieces on his rocket and started to fly it around the room with magic.

Frisk laughed. "That's so awesome!" she cried. "Even though you said you wouldn't use magic."

"I meant weapons," he countered. "This isn't weapons. I can fly yours, too."

She nodded and held up her little dog. It was soon surrounded by blue fire and flew up to sit on top of the rocket. They both laughed together as they thought up strange scenarios for the rocket dog to get into.

* * *

After cleaning the kitchen and putting the dishes in the dishwasher, Grillby traded his yellow gloves in for arm-length rubber ones to give Papyrus a bath. As much as the kid loved his spaghetti, he never failed to get it everywhere.

Once bathed, he let Papyrus go to play with the other kids. He walked down the hall and stopped for a moment to listen.

He smiled to himself as the kids decided that Rocket Dog was going to land on the Jupiter and become the first resident there.

"Can you guys include your brother, Sans?"

Sans looked at his dad for a moment before he huffed. "If we have to."

Frisk beamed. "Of course we can! What do you think he'll be when he grows up?"

Sans laughed. "Annoying!"

"Sans." Grillby couldn't help but smile even if the comment was a little rude.

"Nah, he'll be the greatest sketti chef that ever lived. Won'tcha Paps?"

Papyrus shuffled in. He sat down in the middle of the Legos and picked some up before trying to put them in his mouth.

"No, no." Sans reached out and took them from him.

Grillby had just turned around when Papyrus screamed. He put his hand to his forehead and groaned.

"What was this about you not bugging your brother?" he asked as he went in the room.

"I just took the Legos away from him," Sans said innocently. "He was gonna eat 'em."

Grillby nodded. "That was a good idea, then. It's not your fault your brother's tired."

"I'M NOT TIRED!" Papyrus screamed. He wriggled, trying to escape Grillby's hold.

"Why don't you two play, and I'll see if I can't entertain this little squirm."

He left the kids alone and took Papyrus to his own room. He lifted down several puzzles and set them on the floor, sitting cross-legged to help his son try to figure them out. It worked. He was close enough that he could still hear conversation from the other two and yet keep his youngest son entertained.

It seemed no time at all had passed before Grillby's phone beeped with a text message. AnnaLee and Jordan were on their way to pick up their daughter. He gave Papyrus a kiss on the skull before he got up to let the other two know what was going on.

"But she just got here!" Sans whined.

"I know. And if we surrender her now, maybe she'll be allowed to come back. Will you two clean up, please?"

Frisk nodded and immediately started to put the toys away. Sans continued to grumble a little. Instead of actually helping, he used magic to put things back in the bin. Frisk laughed when he lifted her up to get something that was under her.

"That tickles!" she squealed as his magic lightly grazed over her skin.

He put her down and winked at her. "I can lift almost anything I want."

"I bet you can't lift your dad."

The two kids snickered together as he thought about how he would go about doing that. Once all the toys were put away, he had a plan.

"Dad!" He called out. "Everything's put away."

Grillby called back. "Okay. Please help Frisk make sure she has everything she came with and go to the living room."

Frisk hadn't brought anything over, so his request was shortly met. As Grillby came into the living room, Sans' eyes and hands burst into flame.

Grillby stood and crossed his arms as soon as he realized what was going on. He didn't fight it; he had heard the girl's question. He smiled a little as his feet lifted off the ground an inch. Two inches. Three.

He reached a maximum height of five inches before Sans couldn't do it anymore. He accidentally dropped his dad, who landed gracefully on his feet.

"I did it!"

The two kids shared a high five.

"Sorry, Dad."

Grillby laughed. "You're not in trouble, Sans. Just don't think you can go about getting away with anything just because you can strain yourself enough to lift me five inches. You understand who you get that magic from and that he would be very upset if you were to get into trouble with it."

Sans nodded.

All too soon, Frisk's parents were there to get her. The kids said goodbye and hugged each other before she left.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!


	2. Chapter 2

**A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART TWO~*~

"You're gonna like my dad," Sans said matter-of-factly as he took a handful of popcorn. "He's the coolest."

Grillby smiled. A tiny part of him bristled—he was pretty cool, too, wasn't he?—but he knew that Gaster was the coolest of the two. Grillby maintained that _he_ was the hot one.

The movie played on in front of them as they munched popcorn and Sans told Frisk about his other dad.

They had known each other for a month and had finally been able to convince both sets of parents to allow them to have a sleepover. Sans was ecstatic—he loved spending time with his only human friend, and to not have to say goodbye at the end of the night was the best thing in the world for him. He and his monster friends had sleepovers all the time; this would be new.

The movie was over just in time. As the credits rolled, the front door opened.

Papyrus, having been sleepy beforehand, was suddenly wide awake. He all but threw himself off the couch and ran toward the door.

"DADDY!" he shrieked as he ran.

"Paps!" Gaster lifted the tiny skeleton up and hugged him tightly. "Oh, I've missed you my little buddy." He kissed Papyrus' cheek and held him on his hip.

Sans was next. He ran in and hugged Gaster around the leg. "How's my little award winner?"

Sans looked up. Gaster smiled. "Yes, I heard about that. I'm very proud of you!"

Sans had won an award on a paper he wrote about monster and human friendships. He had based it all in fact, stating that one of his best friends was a human.

After allowing Gaster some time to greet his children, it was finally time for Grillby to welcome his husband home. They kissed briefly and touched foreheads.

Grillby put his hand on Papyrus' back. Now that his daddy was home, the little monster was finally sleepy.

"They missed you."

"I always miss them," Gaster said softly. "And you."

Grillby smiled. "You too. Welcome home."

After another brief kiss, they turned to see Frisk still sitting on the couch.

"Frisk, come meet my husband," Grillby said with a smile.

Gaster handed Papyrus over to Grillby and pried Sans away from his leg so he could lean down on one knee. He was so tall that he intimidated a lot of humans. He didn't want to intimidate this one.

"I've heard a lot about you," he said with a smile. He held out his hand.

Frisk shook it. "Me, too. Sans says you're the coolest scientist in the world." She was mesmerized by the holes in his hands. Sans had told her about them, but only as a warning not to stare. She couldn't help it; the scars were so smooth, and she liked how they felt.

"Is that so?" He wouldn't admit it, but that comment made his soul soar with happiness. He already knew what his son thought of him, but to have proof that he told others was amazing. "I like to think I try. And how are you tonight?" He didn't mind the curiosity and wonder with which children often looked at him. He didn't mind Frisk's intense scrutiny of his hand.

Frisk shrugged and yawned. "I'm good. Tired, I think." She put her hand through the hole in his. "Sorry," she said softly as she removed her hand. She looked at him bashfully.

Gaster chuckled. "It's fine, Frisk. However, it is getting late. Why don't you and Sans go get ready for bed."

The kids went to Sans' room to get Frisk's things. She changed in the bathroom while he changed in his own room.

Grillby gave Papyrus back to Gaster. He knew his husband would want to be the one to put him to bed before he did anything else.

Already half asleep, Papyrus wiggled only a little when he felt himself lose the heat from his fire dad. Skele-dad was just as comfortable, however, and he had no trouble relaxing once again.

Gaster smiled contentedly at his husband. They shared a kiss before Gaster took his son to put him to bed. He gently laid the tiny skeleton down in his bed.

Half a story later, Papyrus was out. Gaster gave him a kiss on the skull and silently walked out of the room.

Sans and Frisk were waiting in Sans' room where Grillby had set up an air mattress on the floor for Frisk to sleep on. Gaster read to the both of them and gave Sans a kiss on the skull before leaving the room.

Grillby didn't feel left out of this. It was only three nights a week that Gaster got to put his children to bed or even see them half awake when he got home from work.

Once the kids were asleep, the husbands sat down at the table. Grillby had already reheated Gaster's dinner. They sat together while Gaster ate and they talked about their days.

Sans had been overjoyed when he discovered that he was able to have a sleepover with Frisk. He'd shown almost as much excitement as Papyrus had. The small skeleton loved his older brother's friend as well. She liked to include both skeletons in their games, which sometimes made Sans jealous. He tried not to show it, but there had been some bumps in their games that day. It was nothing Grillby couldn't handle.

After Gaster finished his meal, he cleaned up and the husbands went to bed.

* * *

The next morning Sans woke up earlier than normal. He was thrilled to still have his friend over. He knew he'd have to say goodbye to her sometime after lunch, but that meant a whole half of the day was his to play with her. He wanted to wake her up just so they could make the most out of every second.

He slipped down off his bed and poked her cheek. He loved how squishy she was. It was interesting to watch her skin bow inward when he touched her. His friends Alphys and Undyne were also soft, but it was different. It wasn't the human kind of squishy.

"Hey, Frisk."

Frisk shut her eyes tightly. She didn't want to wake up; she was far too comfortable for that.

"Come on." Sans poked her again. "Wake up."

Frisk opened her eyes to glare at Sans. "What time is it?"

Sans looked at his clock. "Five o'clock."

Her eyes widened. "In the morning! No, I want to sleep." She turned over and pulled the blankets up over her head.

Sans smiled to himself and climbed in with her. "I want to play. I'm wide awake."

Frisk turned and glared at the skeleton. "I was having a good dream."

"I am a good dream." He smirked at her.

"No, you're a nightmare." She stuck her tongue out at him.

He manifested a tongue to stick out at her. She giggled. He liked the sound of her laughter, so he continued to make things with magic. He made a beard and eyebrows which had her rolling around giggling.

He made a moustache. "Hey, Frisk. I moustache you a question," he said, making his voice low as if he were an adult.

"What?"

"Are you hungry? I'm hungry."

Frisk yawned. "No, but I'm still tired."

"Fine, go to sleep again you sleepy head. I'm gonna go eat breakfast." He got up and left her there.

Frisk cuddled up in the blankets and fell back to sleep with ease.

* * *

The day went by pleasantly. Gaster was thrilled to be home and to see his sons play with their new friend. He'd heard a lot about Frisk from Sans, who insisted on telling him all about their adventures together. He particularly liked to show her things with magic because it made her smile and sometimes laugh. Gaster thought that was sweet.

After lunch, Grillby let everyone know that Frisk's parents were coming to get her. Sans whined as both fathers had expected him to. They weren't prepared for Papyrus' reaction, however.

Instead of whining or shrieking, he sat himself in the corner and cried quietly.

"Papyrus, what's wrong?" Gaster asked.

The little skeleton sniffled. "She's leaving."

Frisk was worried about her tiny friend. She looked up at Gaster before putting a hand on Papyrus' shoulder.

"Hey," she said softly.

He looked up at her for a moment before throwing himself at her. "Don't leave! I love you!"

She smiled and kissed his little head. "I love you too, Paps."

He shook his head. "No, I _love_ you."

She looked up at Gaster again for help. She wasn't sure what was going on.

Gaster sat down next to the two children and patted his son's back. "He's a toddler, and you've shown him more attention than any other of Sans' friends have. He thinks he's in love with you, but I promise it will pass."

Frisk nodded, a little worried. She didn't want someone to be in love with her. She was only six. She couldn't kiss anyone!

"Hey Paps," she said softly. "What if we have a play date of our own? Just you and me?"

He looked up at her with orange tears in his eyes.

"That's not fair!" Sans cried.

Grillby picked up his oldest son and took him in the other room to explain what was going on. He made a point to promise that if he could be okay with Frisk and Papyrus being friends, he would get a play date with Frisk by himself as well. Sans was okay with that.

Papyrus nodded at Frisk. "I want that to happen. We could play sentry and I could protect you from the bad humans!"

Frisk smiled. "That sounds perfect." She kissed his head again and stood up when there was a knock at the door.

Gaster patted the girl's head and went to answer the door.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!


	3. Chapter 3

**A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART THREE~*~

"Truth or dare?" Martin asked, looking at Sans.

"Truth." He didn't dare choose 'dare'. Frisk's human friends had a tendency to challenge him to do dangerous things.

"How do you _really_ feel about Frisk?" Martin asked.

Sans snorted. "She's my best friend. You were expecting me to say I'm madly in love with her like you are?"

Frisk and Martin both blushed fiercely. Sans shot her an apologetic look.

She smiled back; it was worth it to see Martin so agitated.

They were at Martin's fourteenth birthday party, playing Truth or Dare with a group of humans. Sans was the only monster there. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure why he was invited. Frisk had been avoiding him lately, so her saying anything about him coming was a long shot. Then again, Sans knew she was nervous around some of Martin's older teenage friends. She may have said she'd come only if he was invited, too. The thought gave him a little hope that maybe she wasn't pulling away from their friendship.

"It's your turn, Sans," Martin said with a huff.

He smirked. "Alright…um, Kaitlyn. Truth or Dare?"

Kaitlyn considered that for a moment. "Dare, since nobody seems brave enough to try it."

Sans nodded. "Okay, I dare you to…" he wanted to dare her to kiss someone, but that could backfire. He didn't like Kaitlyn very much, and he didn't want to have to kiss her ever. He decided to embarrass her in a different way. "Do the Hokey Pokey in the middle of the circle."

Her face turned red as she stood up. "Weirdo," she mumbled under breath before completing the dare.

The others all laughed at her, especially the older kids. After she sat back down, she fixed her hair and looked at Frisk.

"Frisk. Truth or dare?"

Frisk thought about that for a second. She'd never played this game before. She wasn't sure she'd survive a truth if someone asked her how she really felt about Sans. Instead of risking it, she went with the other option.

"Dare," she said confidently. She could handle something like dancing in the circle.

"Brave girl," Martin said with a snicker. He met Kaitlyn's eyes, and they both smirked.

"Okay," Kaitlyn started. "I dare you to spend fifteen minutes _alone with Sans_ in the closet."

"Whoo!" one of the older kids hooted. "Let the sexy times begin!"

Frisk blushed hard and looked at Sans. He looked really nervous. Her stomach felt queasy as she stood up. Sans stood up next to her.

"You can always back out," Kaitlyn said with a dark grin.

Frisk knew what would happen if she chose to back out of this dare. Not only would Sans think she couldn't spend fifteen minutes alone with him, but her friends would tease her incessantly about it.

"I don't want to back out."

Martin opened the nearest closet door. It was a large closet with only a few cleaning supplies inside. "We don't have any condoms, so be safe!"

"Shut it, Martin," Sans warned, his eyes glowing blue to show how serious he was.

The two stepped into the closet. Martin held up his phone to show that he'd set the timer for fifteen minutes before he shut the door.

Frisk grabbed Sans' jacket; she was still afraid of the dark. She breathed a little easier when his hands burst into flame, giving them both light.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

She nodded, undoubtedly blushing hard. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not like you've been avoiding me or anything. Maybe we can actually talk now."

She licked her lips. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that, too. I'm just…I don't even know, Sans. I don't know how I feel." She shrugged her shoulders and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I mean, obviously we're still friends, right?" he asked hopefully. "I doubt Martin wanted me to be here."

She kept her head down but looked up at him apologetically. "Actually, he asked me to bring you."

It took Sans a moment to wrap his head around that. "Did you not want me to come?"

She groaned and leaned into him, hugging him tightly. "It's not that, Sans. I just…I feel weird when I'm with you now, and I don't like it." She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but she knew it had something to do with her evolving hormones. She didn't want to scare him away, especially since she knew she was only a friend to him.

His arms wrapped around her and held her gently. "Weird how?"

"Like I want to kiss you." She pulled back from the hug and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. We're friends, and I keep pushing you away."

Sans was a little hurt by her words. She was avoiding him because she wanted to kiss him, but she felt that was wrong. He thought she was all for monster and human relationships. Apparently, that was only the case when she wasn't the human involved. He decided to let it go; it wasn't like he was harboring a crush on her or anything. At least, he didn't think so.

She was still the prettiest human he'd ever seen. He liked to look at her, but he didn't want to kiss her. He just wanted to spend time with her and make her smile. He missed the days when they were younger when just showing her a few tricks with magic would make her laugh.

"It's just hormones," she said softly. "I didn't mean to freak you out. I'm pretty sure it'll go away; I'll probably grow out of it, y'know?"

He nodded. He hoped it went away soon so they could go back to being friends like they were before. "Can we still spend time together? I mean, I'll let you kiss me if you really want to." The thought didn't sound too bad. As long as he didn't have to hear her fake excuses as to why they couldn't hang out anymore, he was all for it.

She smiled at him. "Thanks, but no. I don't want to kiss you unless you want that, too. It wouldn't be right." She hugged him again. "And yeah, we can still spend time together. I guess now that you know how I feel, it shouldn't be so awkward. Are you okay with it?"

He touched her cheek. "I'm okay with it. I just don't want to lose my friend." He pulled her close for another hug. "I really do love you, Frisk. As a friend."

She smiled into his jacket and squeezed her arms around him. "I love you as a friend, too."

The closet door opened, and three heads poked in. Martin scoffed.

"Well?"

Sans and Frisk walked out and sat down in their seats. Frisk took Sans' hand and smiled at Kaitlyn.

"Thank you, Kaitlyn," she said sincerely. "That gave us some time to talk about our friendship."

Kaitlyn huffed. "Sure."

Frisk looked at the older teenager that had made the sexy comment. "Jared, right?"

Jared nodded.

"Okay, truth or dare?"

"Hmmm…Truth."

Frisk snickered. "Who in this room do you have the biggest crush on?"

The boy's face went pale, and Frisk smiled. She knew how to get her revenge.

"Nobody," Jared said with a frown.

"You have to tell the truth, Jared," Frisk reminded him. "No cheating."

"Maybe it's you," Martin said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Ew! It better not be," Frisk groaned.

It turned out the sixteen-year-old Jared had a crush on thirteen-year-old Kaitlyn. The room was a little uncomfortable for a few minutes. Sans told himself that even though he didn't like Kaitlyn, he'd still keep an eye out for her. He never thought Jared would do anything, but human teenager hormones were known to do weird things.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I couldn't get this updated yesterday, so that means two in a row today! Woohoo! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART FOUR~*~

Sans' fingers shook as he tied the tie around his neck. He was sure he was doing this wrong. It didn't look right. It was all skiwampus.

The shirt didn't look right either. It was actually too big for him, but he didn't have a nice shirt to wear tonight. He needed to look good tonight, but it wasn't working.

At least the pants were cooperating. His slacks sat nicely on his hip bones and looked quite nice. If only the rest of his damn outfit would behave!

A quick knock on the door made him jump.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Gaster said with a smile. "I can feel your tension from the living room. What's wrong?"

Sans swallowed and looked up at his dad. "This tie isn't working."

Gaster knelt down to fix it. "Do you really want to wear a tie?"

"I don't know. I feel like that's what guys should wear to a dance. Shouldn't I?"

Gaster shrugged. "It is entirely up to you. I know you feel that this night is very special, but please remember it's only a dance."

"Only a dance with Frisk!" His soul began beating harder at the mention of her name.

"You've known her for ten years, Sans. Please try to calm down."

"I've known her for ten years, yeah, but this is the first time I've ever asked her out. I mean, not really out, just to a dance, but I wanna ask her out." He was working his soul into a frenzy. He could practically feel himself sweating. He knew that once upon a time she had wanted to kiss him, but that was two years ago. She had started acting normal around him only two months after they'd gotten stuck in the closet together. She probably didn't feel the same anymore.

Gaster sat down and pulled his son close. "Do you want to know what I did when I wanted to ask your dad out?" He started to fix the buttons on his son's shirt.

"Sure. Were you nervous?"

"Oh, heavens yes. I'd never been more nervous before in my life. Not even when I was about to take my exams."

Sans swallowed. "Okay, what did you do?"

"I reminded myself that I had known him for a long time. I thought about several scenarios in which he would give different answers, and I would deal with the aftermath. I never actually prepared myself for the one in which he said yes, though." He laughed. "Instead, I was speechless when he actually accepted my request."

"But if I ask her and she says no…" he couldn't make himself finish that sentence.

"If she says no, she won't stop being your friend. That's almost a guarantee, assuming that you don't overreact." He patted Sans' shoulders. "You need to tuck your shirt in."

Sans turned to the mirror and realized he hadn't done that yet. Maybe that was what was wrong with the shirt? No, that problem seemed to have been fixed by whatever his dad did with the buttons.

"So what would you have done if Dad said no?" He looked up at his dad as he tucked the shirt in behind him.

"I told myself that I would be cool about it; I wouldn't ask why or demand that he reconsider. I wanted to, mind you. In all the scenarios I constructed, I wanted to know why he would have said no. I never planned to ask, because it could have put a strain on our friendship if he thought he had to have a reason to say no. And, I didn't want to look desperate." He smiled at his son. "But right now you look absolutely handsome."

Sans smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

He hugged his elder around the waist and went to find his other dad.

"Well, don't you look elegant," Grillby said with a smile. "Are you about ready?"

Grillby was a member of the group of adults who were to chaperone the dance. He didn't mind it; the most annoying part was the few humans that thought they were too good to work with a gay monster. He could shut out the two of them by reminding himself how much he was loved by those that actually meant something to him.

"I'm terrified," Sans said, wringing his hands together. "She's gonna be really pretty."

Grillby nodded. "She's always been a pretty girl, remember?"

Sans had said that the day before he asked her to the dance. And, truthfully, she had been. He remembered back when he was six years old, he thought she was pretty even then. He wasn't really sure what that meant at the time, other than he liked to look at her. That part hadn't changed much. He still really liked to look at her.

She was gorgeous with her chin-length brown hair, olive complexion, and slightly Asian features. Her mother was Asian, but her dad was as white as they came. Frisk had gotten the best of both worlds. She had freckles and light brown, slanted eyes. Her nose was flat and her lips full and red.

"Earth to Sans," Grillby said.

Sans looked up at his dad and blushed. He had been full-on daydreaming about her. "Sorry, Dad."

Soon they were off to get the girl. Sans shifted uncomfortably when they pulled up to her house.

"I might puke," he whispered.

Grillby felt bad for his son. "Can I tell you a little secret?"

Sans nodded. Anything to help him feel a little better.

"She's probably just as anxious as you are. You're a senior, and she's going to the dance with _you_."

"Yeah, but I'm not older than her." Although, the thought did make him feel slightly better. He had heard comments about girls going to the dance with seniors. It was supposedly a really cool thing to do. He wondered if Frisk thought so.

"Go get her, Son. She's waiting in there for you." He patted Sans' shoulder.

Sans nodded and got out of the car. He walked up the sidewalk and swallowed as he knocked on the door.

AnnaLee opened the door and smiled. "Hello, Sans. Frisk is nearly ready. Why don't you come in for a moment?"

He stepped in and waved nervously when he saw Jordan standing by the kitchen with his hands behind his back. "Hi, Mr. Cooper."

"Hi, Sans. What time do you think you'll be bringing her home?"

"Um, well, the dance gets over at about nine, so probably shortly after that. We will be staying to help Dad clean up a little bit."

Jordan nodded, thankful that he didn't have to give any speeches about curfew. He didn't feel right doing the whole 'overprotective dad' thing with Sans. Any other boy, sure, but he knew Sans well enough to know the boy wouldn't do anything to hurt his little girl.

Just then, Frisk came around the corner. She stopped by her mom and smiled.

"Hi, Sans," she said with a little wave.

Sans waved back, but he had a hard time finding words as his eyes raked over her. She was a vision of beauty with her hair curled and part of it pinned up. Her dress was blue, floor length, and flared out around her hips. The top part was snug to her body and had elbow-length sleeves. The color matched that of his magic, and he suspected she'd done that on purpose.

"Wow," he finally said. He cleared his throat and stepped forward. "You look absolutely beautiful," he managed. He held out his hand for her.

She smiled brightly and put her hand in his. "Thank you. And you look very handsome."

His soul fluttered with her comment. He took her hand and smiled at her parents before leading her to the door.

"Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, and they left.

The ride to the place was silent. Sans wanted to tell her how beautiful she was to him, but he'd already said it. He could hardly believe he was going to get to dance with her. She would undoubtedly be the most gorgeous person there.

Once there, Sans took her hand again and led her through the doors.

Grillby immediately disappeared, going about his PTA duties.

"Can we get our picture taken?" Frisk asked excitedly.

Sans squeezed her fingers and led the way under the flowery arch that had been set up for pictures. "Anything you want is yours," he said softly.

She blushed lightly, and he had to know what she was thinking. Instead of asking, he posed with her for their picture.

She stood in front of him, arms crossed over his that were wrapped around her. His chin rested on her shoulder as they both smiled for the camera.

Once in the dance hall, they made their way over to their friends.

Undyne was dressed in a white suit that fit her effortlessly while her date, Alphys, was dressed in a tight black dress. They complemented each other perfectly.

Frisk was dying to dance with Sans. She couldn't wait to stand close to him and actually have a reason to this time. She had wished upon a star a few nights prior that he would ask her to this dance. Lo and behold, here she was. She could hardly believe her luck. And boy, was he handsome! She knew her friend could clean up nicely, but actually _seeing_ it with her own two eyes made it all that much better. She liked knowing that he had dressed up just for her.

They talked with their friends for a while before a slow song finally started. Undyne didn't even ask; she just pulled Alphys out to the dance floor. The poor yellow monster had no choice but to follow. Not that she wanted to object, but that was beside the point.

Frisk looked at Sans expectedly.

Suddenly, Sans was really nervous. He wanted to ask her to dance, but how would he go about doing that? It wasn't like he was asking her out yet or anything. He was just…oh, this was bad. She kept staring at him, expecting him to say something, and his mouth simply would not cooperate.

He cleared his throat and held out his hand. He tried to hide how hard his fingers were shaking. Frisk accepted it. Without a word, he started to lead her to the dance floor.

Frisk was ecstatic. Not only was he nervous around her, but he wanted to dance with her! His nerves told her that he liked her perhaps more than he was letting on. Maybe if she was patient he'd ask her out? Oh, that would be lovely.

Deciding to live in the moment, Frisk payed close attention to her hands as they found his shoulders. He smiled at her and put his hands on her hips, pulling her just a little closer.

"We don't need to save room for Jesus, do we?" He finally muttered.

Frisk laughed. "Only if you want to dance with him, too."

Sans shook his head and pulled her in, closing the space between them. "No, I only have eyes for you."

Oh. She liked that. A lot. Probably a lot more than she should have, but that was okay for now. "Good, because I don't think I could pay much attention to Jesus right now, anyway. You're too handsome for that."

He cleared his throat and tried to fight the rush of blue he knew was showing on his cheekbones.

"Did I, uh…did I tell you how pretty you are tonight?" he asked as they moved together.

"I'm fairly certain your exact words were 'absolutely beautiful'." She blushed and looked down at his chest.

"Well, that was an understatement. You are, by far, the most gorgeous person here."

She couldn't help but smile brightly at that comment. "Sans, you are too much. Still smooth-talking your way through everything."

He shrugged one shoulder. "It's who I am. You love it."

I love _you_ , she thought to herself. She'd like to say it out loud, but she wasn't sure she dared. Not yet. Not until she knew for sure he felt the same way.

"Yes, I do." She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you for asking me to the dance with you, Sans."

He held her a little tighter. "Thank you for coming with me."

All too soon, the song ended. A more upbeat song started. The pair separated but continued to dance.

Throughout the night, Sans kept seeing others staring at his date. He didn't like it very much. Although he knew they probably couldn't help themselves, not knowing how Frisk felt about him made him feel a little self-conscious. How easy would it be for someone else to steal her away from him? The thought made him hold her a little tighter.

At eight-forty-five, an announcement came over the speakers that the dance was winding down. After a few more slow dances, the dance was declared over.

Sans and Frisk helped Grillby and the others do some cleanup before Grillby took them home.

Sans walked Frisk up to her door.

"I had a really fun time," he said as they got to the top step.

She turned to him and smiled. "Me, too. Thank you, Sans."

"I should be thanking you. I got to dance with the most beautiful woman in the world." He reached out and tucked a stray tuft of hair behind her ear.

"You and your charm are going to make it very hard for me to not fall for you. I hope you know that."

He met her eyes. "Maybe that's what I'm hoping for?"

They stared at each other for a moment. Sans could practically feel the attraction growing between them. It was like they were magnets, being pulled closer together.

Her door opened, making both of them jump.

"Hey, Frisk," Jordan said with a smile. "Didn't mean to interrupt you guys, but I'm glad you're home." He walked past them to take the garbage out to the street.

Frisk gave Sans a sad smile. She was really certain she was about to kiss him. Her dream had almost come true. Instead, the feeling was gone.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, right?" she asked.

Sans nodded. "You bet you will."

They hugged each other tightly before Frisk followed her dad into the house.

He couldn't help but gush all the details to both dads that night. He was on cloud nine as he remembered her arms around him and her smile as she danced next to him.

"Dad, dad…" he looked between his fathers. "I think I might be in love." He could feel his cheeks turning blue, but he didn't care. "I really do."

Gaster patted his son's shoulder. "You're most certainly infatuated, my son." He glanced at Grillby and smiled.

Grillby smiled back. They both knew this was going to happen after hearing how his thoughts about her had been changing. She went from being the cutest to the most beautiful. He had usually been able to talk about his other friends as well, but lately it had been Frisk almost all the time. Neither dad was upset about that; they knew how it felt to slowly fall in love with your best friend. And, truthfully, they couldn't think of anyone better for their son.

That night as Sans lay in bed trying to sleep, he gazed out the window at the stars. He found himself wishing that someday, she would feel the same way about him as he felt for her.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are lovely; I'd love to know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART FIVE~*~

Frisk sighed to herself as she got ready for school on Monday. It had been a week since she'd danced with Sans at his senior prom, and she hadn't heard from him since.

She wanted to pretend that everything he'd said about her being so beautiful had been real. She also wanted to pretend that his nervousness around her had meant that he liked her. However, he was a charmer who said things like that to make girls blush, and for all she knew he could have been sick that day.

Who was she kidding? A monster like Sans wouldn't be caught dead with a girl like her. He was so smart—he already had his associate degree thanks to a program through the high school. He was graduating a year ahead of everyone else his age. He'd had more than his fair share of girlfriends over the last two years, and not once had he looked at her the way she'd seen him look at some of them.

Not just smart, though. He was funny and charming and damn good-looking. Even some of her classmates who claimed they didn't like monsters said that Sans had a certain appeal to his looks. It was pretty much unavoidable that she would fall in love with him.

She would be lucky to stay friends with him once he moved on to college for real. She knew it wouldn't be a quick thing; their friendship was strong and they'd both fight to keep it that way. Inevitably, however, she knew what would happen. He'd go on to make a big name for himself just like both of his fathers had, and she'd be left in his wake. He was a shooting star, and she was…she didn't know what she was. A passing satellite, just hoping to catch a glimpse of his glory, she supposed.

She laughed at herself and her melodramatic thoughts. Maybe she was PMS-ing or something; her mind didn't usually take her to such dark places when it came to her and Sans.

"Mom, Dad, I'm heading to school," she called through the house. "See you both later. Love you." She didn't wait for a response as she walked out the door.

She got in her car—a light silver Toyota she shared with her mom. She used it for school, and her mom would use it for errands after school and on the weekends. It was a hassle, but it worked somehow.

At school, she went about her day like usual. She talked and laughed with her friends, joked with Kelsie about who Ian had a crush on, and hoped patiently to see Sans. Even though she knew it was a long shot as they didn't share lunch hour, and thanks to his college classes he was only at the high school for a half a day.

"Hey, Frisk, can I ask you something?" Martin said as he slid into the seat next to hers at lunch.

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Um, sure?"

"Okay, before I ask you, I just wanna…I wanted to tell you…" He rubbed the back of his neck and blushed beet red. Frisk couldn't help but think it was a little cute. "I saw you at the dance last weekend. My sister didn't have a date, so I went with her. You were really pretty."

She felt herself blush. Maybe Sans had been telling the truth; maybe he really thought she was gorgeous. It was a long shot, but she could dream.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you would want to…maybe go out with me?"

Frisk didn't know what to do. She looked at Martin for a moment, hoping he wasn't serious. Maybe he was joking with her, trying to prank her or something. He sure didn't look like that. He looked like he would cry if she said no.

But she wanted to say no. She wanted to go out with Sans. She wondered if she could talk to Sans and then give Martin an answer.

"Please say something," Martin pleaded.

"I, um…" She chewed on her lip for a moment. "What if I said I don't know how to answer that yet?"

He looked sad and yet relieved at the same time. "I was really worried you'd say hell no and run away or something," he laughed. "If you need a day or two to think about it, go for it. I can be patient."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She put her hand on his arm. "I don't want to give you false hope, Martin. I'm going to talk to Sans tonight, one way or another. If he wants me, I'm his."

Martin's face fell. "Sans? Frisk, he's a college guy now. He's not gonna want to go out with a high school freshman and you know it. Yeah, he asked you to the dance, but that was probably because none of his college girlfriends wanted to go to a high school prom."

Frisk's heart crumpled to the ground. "College girlfriends?" She hadn't once thought about them. She knew he'd dated someone from one of his college classes before. It hadn't gone anywhere, but that didn't mean it had only been once.

College girls were more on Sans' level than she was. A lowly freshman, compared to a more mature, probably way hotter, college student. She knew exactly who Sans deserved more.

Thinking about college girls made Frisk's stomach want to expel her lunch. She couldn't eat anymore. She was also pretty certain she didn't want to talk to Sans anymore, either. She could see the scenario play itself out in her head: she'd confess that she was in love with him, and he'd calmly, charmingly, explain to her that he wasn't interested. He'd say that he hoped it didn't damage their friendship, but she knew it would. He'd know that she wanted more than he was willing to give her and he'd slowly but surely back his way out of her life.

"Frisk?"

She looked up at Martin and tried to smile. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I'll go out with you."

He smiled proudly. "Tomorrow night?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

Frisk didn't get a chance to talk to Sans until the following Saturday. It had been almost two weeks since she'd nearly kissed him. She recalled every second of that night in perfect detail, and yet she knew without a doubt now that it hadn't meant to him what it had meant to her.

She'd called him several times and texted him, but he'd only responded to a few of her texts in short, two- or three-word answers. He'd never returned her calls. That wasn't how a person acted if they liked someone.

Saturday was the day that she had set up a platonic date with Papyrus. She almost wanted to cancel simply because she knew she'd probably see Sans. Then again, maybe it was a good thing.

She showed up to Papyrus' house at noon. They were going to be cooking together; Papyrus' favorite pastime. Instead of spaghetti, however, they were making brownies from scratch. It was one of Grillby's family recipes that she was dying to learn.

"Frisk!" Papyrus all but screamed when he answered the door. He pulled her into a tight hug. At thirteen years old, the kid was already as tall as her. She knew he'd end up a tall monster just like Gaster. Sans had gotten Grillby's shorter stance.

"Hey, Paps!" She hugged him back just as tightly. "It's been a while!"

He pulled back and all but yanked her into the house. "You are going to love today. I've gotten almost everything set up." He held her hand and dragged her to the kitchen. "I already made sure we have what we need, but I haven't started a single thing. I wanted us to do everything together!"

His bones nearly rattled with how excited he was. Frisk thought it was amusing; he sometimes reminded her of a chihuahua.

"I'm really looking forward to this, Paps. What should we start with?"

Papyrus dug out their aprons and handed one to her. She put hers on and smiled at his. For Christmas one year, Sans had gotten his brother a special apron with doggy paw prints all over it. As dogs were Papyrus' favorite animal, he loved the apron. It was stained from years of abuse, but Frisk figured that was what it was for.

The one she put on was neat and crisp and very white.

"Now let's wash up and get started!"

The first little while of baking went well. Papyrus guided her through each step. He already had the recipe memorized but had the paper handy just in case. When her arm got tired from stirring the thick batter, he took over for her.

Eventually, it was time to put the brownies in the oven.

"So," Papyrus started. "I saw the pictures from the dance you went to with Sans." He smiled at her. "You looked absolutely gorgeous. I wish I had been able to see you in person. I might have asked for your autograph!"

Frisk blushed. "Thanks, Paps." She felt like maybe his brother's charm was rubbing off on him.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Your brother's a good dancer."

"Undoubtedly; Fire Dad taught him everything he knows."

She smiled at the name. It had only taken a few times of her asking which dad he was talking about for him to make up nicknames. Grillby soon became Fire Dad, and Gaster was Skelly Dad. As they got older, she realized it may have been rude of her to expect him to do that, but it had stuck. Sans hadn't done the same thing; he seemed to be able to talk about one father and let the other person know exactly who he was referring to. It was a gift of his, she supposed.

"Where is he, by the way?"

"Oh, he's asleep. He's been so busy with classes. He even had to miss Brother's Night because of a test. I nearly cried, but I know it's important to him."

Frisk was amazed at that. She hadn't been aware that anything in the world could make Sans miss Brother's Night—the one night a week they set aside for brotherly bonding time. Apparently, college classes were taking more out of Sans than she realized.

Once the brownies were baked, they removed them from the oven and set them on top of the stove to cool.

They talked for a time about their lives. Papyrus was not enjoying middle school in the slightest, although he was looking forward to taking culinary classes in high school. He was already on his way to becoming a chef; he and Grillby made dinner together most nights.

"He's even learning how to not burn things," Sans said.

Frisk and Papyrus looked over to see him standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"I don't burn anything," Papyrus argued loudly.

"Not for a while, no. You're gettin' better!"

"Do you feel better, Brother?"

Sans walked into the room and leaned against the counter by Frisk. "Yeah, I think so. Man, I was so tired this morning." He shook his head before looking at Frisk beside him. "How are you?"

She shrugged and looked up to see his face. "Not bad. It's been a while."

He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. School and stuff." He shrugged.

She nodded, telling him silently that she understood. She wasn't sure she really did, though; he should have been able to at least text her back more than two or three times even if he was busy.

"Is your group project done?" Papyrus asked.

Sans nodded. "Yeah, finally. I gotta present it on Monday and I'm not really looking forward to it. The rest of the group will get credit for what I did, and if it's not good enough they'll get mad. It's how it always works." He shrugged one shoulder again, trying to play like it didn't bother him when he was actually really stressed about it. He'd gotten hurt more than his fair share for not getting a good enough grade on these stupid group projects. He wanted to pretend that college kids could be more mature about it, but he wasn't sure he could hold out that kind of hope for long.

Papyrus stepped forward and hugged his brother. "You're so smart; I'm sure your work is impeccable!" After a quick squeeze, he excused himself and left the room.

The room was uncomfortably silent for a few seconds.

"So," Sans started, "what are you up to tomorrow?"

Frisk shrugged. "Not much; probably just homework and cleaning my room. It's a mess!"

Sans smirked. "It usually is. So's mine, though, so I guess whatever. I could come help, if you want?"

"With which part?" She so wanted Sans to come over, but she knew sooner or later she'd have to confess to her date on Tuesday. It hadn't gone very well, and she'd rather not tell anyone about it.

"Either part you want help with. I'm easy." He leaned a little closer to her. "Just don't let that get around."

Frisk smiled. "Don't worry; your secret is safe with me."

Why did she feel like she could stand there and talk with him for the rest of her life and be happy? She sighed deeply and smiled at him again.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. I've just got a lot on my mind, I guess."

He scooted a little closer to her and took her hand. "Anything you need to talk about?"

He looked deeply into her eyes, trying to see if she was really okay. It wasn't like her to heave heavy sighs and hide things from him. He was worried about her, and he couldn't hide it.

Sans had been so ready to ask her out and confess his love to her the day after prom, but something inside him was too scared to call her. He was terrified that she'd tell him she was interested in someone else. So, he'd waited only to find himself swamped in a group project for one of his college courses. He had expected other college kids to take their work seriously, but it seemed it wasn't much better than high school. He ended up doing most of the work as usual, which left him straining to keep up with the rest of his classes, both college and high school.

Frisk sighed again and squeezed his fingers. "Yeah, but I don't think it's a good idea to talk about it here with Paps around." Her young friend didn't need to know how big of a douche Martin had been.

His brow bones furrowed. "Sure. We can talk when I come over tomorrow; is that okay?"

She nodded. "That sounds great."

Papyrus came back in the room with a wide grin. "Who's ready for brownies?"

* * *

The next day, Frisk let her parents know that Sans would be over to help her clean her room for a while. Her dad made a comment or two about letting a boy in her room, but she skillfully dodged each and every one of them. It was Sans; it wasn't like he was interested in her like that anyway.

Jordan smiled at his daughter. She was oblivious, and it was cute. At least he didn't have to worry too much; he knew Sans wouldn't make a move on his daughter under his roof. The kid was too respectful for that. At least, he hoped. He took a breath and let it out slowly; he needed to trust them even though he remembered being their age. Sixteen was rough and full of hormones and crap.

Sans showed up shortly after breakfast. He said hi to Frisk's parents, talked for a minute about his classes, then followed Frisk to her room.

He had no trouble hiding his feelings at the moment; he was worried about her. The way she'd talked the day before let him know that there really was something bothering her. He wanted to get to the bottom of it and hopefully help her figure out a solution.

"I'm sorry; my room really is a disaster area," she said as she shut the door behind them. She wanted privacy to say what she knew she was going to have to say. Dammit, she wished she didn't have to. She really did need to get it off her chest, and maybe by telling him she could reassure herself that he was still her best friend.

Sans shrugged. "I still have that tornado in my room. I can make one for you, too, if you want."

She smiled. "No, thank you." She picked up a random shirt and threw it toward her hamper. It missed by a few inches.

"You throw like a girl," Sans quipped. He then used his magic to pick up several items of clothing and put them in the hamper.

"I think you mean I throw like you." She picked up a sock and threw it at him.

He caught it and threw it back. "I'm an excellent shot." It missed her by a foot.

Frisk snorted. "I can see."

He just shrugged and continued to use magic to clean some things up while she threw the sock into hamper and made it in.

"Is everything okay?" Sans finally asked after the last article of clothing was put away. Her room was mostly clean now.

She sat down heavily on her bed and sighed. "I don't know, Sans. I did something stupid." She shook her head at herself.

Sans sat next to her and gently took her hand to rub her knuckles. "What happened?"

Tears pricked at her eyes and she blinked a few times to make them go away. "I went out with Martin on Tuesday night, and it wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be like."

Sans felt his soul drop. "You went out on a date with Martin?" Goddammit! He knew someone would snatch her up.

Frisk nodded. "Yeah. But, Sans…it wasn't a fun time at all. He said we were going to dinner and a movie, but after dinner he took me to this drive-in movie theater. I didn't even know those still existed."

He pulled his hand back from hers and tried hard to pay attention to what she was saying. Clearly, whatever happened bothered her. He couldn't get over the fact that she had nearly kissed him after prom. He thought for sure there was some small chance she liked him back. She couldn't have waited a little while before leaping at the first opportunity for a date? He took a breath and reminded himself that he didn't know the situation.

Frisk looked at Sans expectantly. He was staring down at his lap with an angry expression on his face. Tears that had threatened to fall earlier started to slip down her cheeks. She had just confessed that her date had touched her inappropriately, and he wasn't reacting the way she'd thought he would.

"Well?" she said softly. She hoped to hear some kind of advice or promise to protect her. Anything.

Sans looked at her. "I'm sorry, Frisk. I think I need to go home."

Her jaw trembled. He looked…disgusted.

No, Sans wasn't supposed to do this. He was supposed to support her, not chastise her. She hadn't been the one who made the mistake!

"But why?"

"I just…I don't know, Frisk. I thought we had something. I mean, I know I took forever and a day to talk to you after the dance, and I apologize for that. But, that…Did you even think about talking to me before you went out with him?"

"Seriously?" The way he completely ignored what she'd told him hurt more than she could have imagined it. He seemed more concerned about who she went out with than her safety, and that just didn't sit right. "Yes, I did think about it. I wanted to, but he convinced me not to. I'm sorry for that." She wrapped her arms around her stomach. Talking to him had been a mistake. She suddenly felt so alone. She couldn't tell anyone else; no one in the world would believe her. Either that, or they'd blame her and make it seem like it was all her fault. Not even her best friend in the whole world cared that she'd been hurt.

"Is that all that was on your mind? Just going out with Martin?"

She sniffled and looked up as she wiped away an errant tear. She refused to cry in front of him; he didn't deserve to know how badly he'd hurt her. He could pretend he cared for her all he wanted, but the way he just ignored her pain told her everything she could ever need to know.

"Yep, I guess that was it. You can go home now."

Sans shook his head and turned to leave.

Once he was gone, she shut her door again and curled up into her bed to cry.

* * *

Sans all but slammed his door shut and paced his small room. Why on earth would she invite him over just to tell him that she'd gone out with someone else? Not only that, but then she gets upset when he's not happy for her! What was he supposed to say? Was he supposed to congratulate her on dating someone that wasn't him?

He had known someone else would get to her, and he still let it happen.

"Sans?" Gaster called out. He knocked lightly on the door.

"Leave me alone!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fucking peachy." He closed his eyes; he knew better than to swear at his dad, but he was pissed.

"Sans," Gaster warned. "Watch your language. May I come in?"

He huffed. "If it's really necessary, then yes." He sat down on his bed and crossed his arms.

"I thought you were going to Frisk's today." Gaster came in and sat next to his son. He could feel anger and sadness radiating off of him. "What happened?"

"She wanted to talk to me about something. She seemed upset, so I thought it was important. All she wanted to tell me was that she went out with Martin on Tuesday night." He scowled as he said the words.

Gaster nodded knowingly and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that, Sans."

"I love her, Dad." He looked up into his dad's face. "I love her, and I'm really scared that I've lost her. What do I do?"

Gaster didn't have an answer to that. He felt like he knew Frisk well enough to say that she wouldn't purposely hurt his son that way. "Are you sure that was what she was telling you?"

"Yes!" Sans stood up and started pacing again. "I asked her what was wrong, and she got all pensive like she thought I wouldn't believe her or something. She started telling me about how they went to dinner and then he took her to a drive-in." He started remembering snippets of her words that he hadn't heard before. He had been too caught up in his thoughts to register them as she said them.

"No, wait…" he stopped pacing and looked down at his hands. "I was thinking about how sorry I was for myself and I didn't hear her. She said something else. What did she say?" He closed his eyes. This was important; he could feel it in his soul. "She was really upset about it. She was crying."

Gaster sucked in a breath. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear this; it was something Frisk trusted Sans with, but she probably didn't want a grown-up to hear. Then again, maybe it was something a grown-up _needed_ to hear.

"He touched her." Sans looked at his dad, suddenly scared. "Dad, he touched her. I didn't even hear her before. She probably thinks I'm no better than him! What do I do? How do I fix this?"

"Who did she go out with? I need to talk to their parents."

"Um…Martin. Dad, what do I do?"

Gaster put his hands on Sans' shoulders. "Calm down, Son. You need to call her and tell her that you didn't hear her. Hopefully, she will listen to you."

* * *

Frisk opened her eyes to a knock on her door.

"Frisk, honey, is everything okay?" AnnaLee asked as she opened the door. "Sans left in quite a hurry…Oh! Honey, what's wrong?"

She rushed in and sat next to her daughter on the bed. She wiped Frisk's wet cheek and kissed her forehead. "What is it, baby?"

Frisk sniffled and sat up a little more. "I'm not so sure Sans and I are friends anymore."

AnnaLee pet Frisk's hair gently. "I doubt one little argument could break what you two have."

"You don't understand, Mom. I told him something…something really big, and he acted like it was nothing. He didn't even acknowledge that I'd said anything." She sniffled again.

"Can I ask you what you told him?"

"About my date with Martin on Tuesday." She moved so she was sitting on the edge of the bed next to her mom. "Something I didn't tell you about." She was nervous to say anything, but maybe her mom would understand and help her to feel a little less dirty.

AnnaLee cocked her head to the side. "Can you tell me?"

Frisk braced herself for an angry reaction. "When we were at the drive-in movie theater…um, Martin tried to come on to me. I pushed him away, but he kissed me and touched my boobs. He only stopped after I told him I'd walk home if he didn't stop."

AnnaLee felt herself tighten up. She pulled Frisk into a tight hug. "Oh, sweetie. Are you okay? Did you tell anyone else? This isn't something that should be ignored. Let me talk to Martin's parents; this will be handled."

Frisk clung to her mother as if she'd drown if she let go. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Please don't be. At least you're telling me now."

After a while of quietly talking and reassuring her daughter, she went to discuss the situation with her husband.

Frisk felt a little better about the situation. She still felt like she wanted to hate Sans a little, but she wasn't sure she could do that. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Everything would be okay, one way or another. She just had to remember that Sans was no longer a person she could share personal things with.

As she was about to lay down again, her phone rang. She looked at it and snorted when she saw it was Sans. She didn't care to talk to him at the moment. She silenced the ringer and laid down. A few moments later, it buzzed letting her know that a message had been recorded. Out of curiosity, she decided to listen to it.

"Frisk, hey…um, I'm an idiot. Like, a massive, colossal idiot. I didn't even hear what you said to me the first time. I was too caught up in my head, and I actually thought you just wanted to talk to me to tell me about your date with Martin. I mean, I know that really is the case, but I didn't hear you when you said that he…hurt you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, and I pray to god that you'll let me have a chance to show you I'm still your friend. Please, please call me."

How did he not hear her? It wasn't like she was whispering or anything. With a sigh, she hit the 'call' button next to his name.

"Frisk! Hi. Thank you for calling me. Are you okay?" Sans could feel the relief all the way down to his soul. This could only be a good thing.

"I'm not sure if 'okay' is the right word, but I'm…I'll live." She sniffled. "How did you not hear me?"

Sans wasn't sure how to explain this. "It's…something I get from my dad. He's always thinking, and sometimes when he's caught up in work or in his own thoughts he literally blocks things out. It's caused more than one fight between my parents. I didn't realize I was blocking anything out until I got home and was talking to Dad. I'm so sorry."

"I really thought you were more concerned over who I went out with."

"No! God no, Frisk. Can we pretend this is the first time I'm hearing about it? I'll react the right way."

She huffed. "I don't think I can say it again. I still feel a little icky."

"It's not your fault. Don't let that asshole have that power over you, okay? You can bet your ass I'm gonna give him a bad time tomorrow at school, too."

She couldn't help but smile. This was what she had wanted to hear. "My parents are already on it."

"Yeah, so's my dad. I didn't mean to tell him, Frisk. He was in the room when I was remembering what you'd said. I'm pretty sure he's gonna get Dad in on it, too. Martin's gonna have a lot of people coming down on him for hurting you."

"Just…no weapons, okay?"

Sans sighed. "I'm not sure I can promise that. He touched you, Frisk. He deserves to have his hands cut off."

She smiled and held the phone a little tighter. "Thank you for caring, Sans. I knew you would."

"Of course I care. You're my best friend. Anyone who messes with you is also messing with me. Martin's not gonna like me."

She had to laugh at that. "He already doesn't like you."

"Well, he's gonna like me even _less_."

They talked for a while longer before AnnaLee and Jordan came up to talk to Frisk about what they were going to do about the situation. Frisk felt much better knowing that all of the important people in her life—aside from Papyrus—knew what had happened to her now and believed her. Not only that, but they were going to help her.

* * *

A/N: What's a good story without a bit o' drama? Thanks for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the love you're showing this story. It means a lot to me. *hugs!*

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART SIX~*~

"Hey Papyrus, can I talk to you for a minute?" Frisk asked. They were cooking together, waiting for Sans to get home from work. Their dads were out for date night, which left the boys to their own devices. Frisk thought this was the perfect opportunity to put her plan into action.

The tall skeleton smiled at her. "Of course, Human!"

He hadn't learned how to speak without yelling yet. Frisk thought it was adorable that the fifteen-year-old skeleton would all but screech everything he said.

"Do you still have a crush on me?"

His cheekbones turned orange. "No, not like before. I like you, though! Just not…like that…anymore."

She giggled. "Good! I'm glad; I don't want to break your heart when I ask your brother to go out with me."

Papyrus squealed. "OOOH! That's exciting! He'll say yes for sure. My brother adores you."

Frisk blushed as she continued to shred cheese. "That's good. Has he…talked to you at all? I mean, about how he feels about me?"

"He stopped doing that after I accidently told you that he wanted to kiss you."

Dang; that had been almost a year ago. Now eighteen-year-old Frisk just wanted to date the damn skeleton already. They'd been flirting around it for two years, but one or the other would make some really stupid mistake—like going out on a date with Martin right after she went to senior prom with Sans—and ruin the whole thing for a few months. They'd eventually come back together, but it was always strained. They were never officially a couple, but Frisk wanted to change that.

"Will you help me?" Frisk asked. "I mean, I'm really nervous that he'll say no." Neither of them had ever asked the other out. Not in any direct way. They'd both played around with words to the effect, but the other predictably misunderstood. Her plan this time was to be as direct as possible; there was no way he was going to misunderstand her meaning this time.

Papyrus smiled hugely. "I, The Great Papyrus, know exactly what to do!"

He rushed out of the kitchen to the dining room. Frisk couldn't see what he was doing. She was curious, but she chose to stay in the kitchen and stir instead of investigating.

Whatever he was doing, Papyrus was gone until Sans walked in the door. Immediately, he rushed over to welcome his brother home.

"I missed you so much!" Papyrus cried.

Sans chuckled. "I love you too, Bro."

Frisk shivered at the sound of his voice. It had started to get deeper when he was sixteen, but now it was a glorious baritone that she could feel throughout her entire being.

"Frisk is here to have dinner with us!"

"Awesome. Where is she?"

"In the kitchen. Oh, no! I just left her there!" He suddenly appeared behind her. "I'M SO SORRY, FRISK, I DIDN'T MEAN TO LEAVE YOU ALONE!"

She laughed as he took over stirring the now combined pot of ingredients. "It's okay, Paps. I know my way around a kitchen."

"How's it goin', Frisk?" Sans asked as he sauntered in.

She smiled at him. "Not bad. You?" She loved him in his uniform. He looked absolutely adorable in the colorful _Hotdog on a Stick_ outfit.

The hotdog joint was only one of Sans' jobs. He also worked with Grillby serving food for his dad's bar, and also with Gaster as a lab assistant. He couldn't do a lot in the lab, but he was thrilled to get a foot in the door there. His various jobs helped him pay for college.

"Tired! I feel like I could sleep for two weeks."

"You're always tired, Sans," Papyrus complained.

"True. What's for dinner?"

"Cheesy Chicken Chili," Frisk answered. "We wanted as many 'ch's as we could get in to tonight's dinner."

Papyrus huffed. "That's not true. You said we couldn't have spaghetti and instead told me we were having this."

"Aww, don't be upsetti over the spaghetti," Sans said with a grin.

"I'M NOT UPSETTI!" Papyrus shouted. "Well, I am at your darn jokes, but not at Frisk or dinner."

"We've had spaghetti the past three times I've been over. I wanted to try something new." She shrugged. In reality, she wanted something special to hopefully win her man over with. She liked that thought a little too much; Sans was her man.

"Well, either way, it sounds and smells delicious." He walked up behind Frisk and gave her a hug. "Can I do anything to help?"

She looked back at him and smiled again. "No. It's almost done. Why don't you just go get ready?"

That, he could do.

After he left, Frisk looked over at Papyrus. "How is he so handsome?" she asked.

Papyrus grimaced. "Please don't expect me to answer that."

Once everything was ready, Frisk dished a few bowls and took them out to the dining room.

She almost gasped when she saw what Papyrus had done. The table was covered in a white, lacy tablecloth and two candles sat in the middle. They weren't lit yet, but they looked very elegant sitting there. There were only two glasses and sets of silverware set out, one on either side of the table.

"Why only two?" she asked as she set the bowls down.

Papyrus gave her a devious smile. "Because you will get to work your own brand of magic while I eat in my room."

She suddenly felt bad. "Oh, Paps, don't do that. I appreciate you doing all of this for me, but I would hate it if you were up there all alone."

"I have homework I need to do, though. I was planning on eating in my room anyway, so I can finish my essay." He patted her head. "It would have been the two of you alone, but this way it's more romantic."

"What's more romantic?" Sans asked as he walked in the room. He looked at the table then back at his brother. "You makin a move, Bro?" He knew Papyrus didn't feel the same about Frisk as he used to, but it still raised his possessive hackles when he thought about anyone making a move on Frisk. He needed to grow some damn balls and ask her out before someone snagged her up again.

Papyrus barked a laugh. "No, not on her."

"Oh?" Frisk said, crossing her arms. "Then on who?"

He cleared his throat. "I may or may not have a crush on a robot named Mettaton. Oh, he's very handsome." He laughed a small, high pitched giggle. "I'm not making any moves, though. Not tonight. Tonight, I have homework to do. You two are all on your own."

He winked at his brother as he walked out of the room.

Sans scratched the back of his skull. He was not prepared for this. He wasn't entirely sure what in the world his brother thought he was doing. Maybe the little shit had snuck a peek at his journal? Sans was a little desperate for the courage to ask her out. It seemed like every single time he thought he'd found it, she'd declare that she was interested in someone else. His courage would falter, and he'd congratulate her like an idiot. When her relationship would falter, he'd be involved with someone else. He couldn't justify breaking someone's heart for a chance that might not work out. By the time his own didn't work out, she'd be with someone else again. It was a vicious circle that never seemed to end.

At the moment, he was pretty sure they were both single. It would be the perfect time to ask her out. His nerves still weren't sure about it.

"Hungry?" Frisk asked. She sure as hell hoped he was, because otherwise she'd have to find something else to do and she wasn't sure she could do that.

"Yeah."

They sat down to eat. The silence was awkward for a few minutes.

"This is really good," Sans complimented.

"Thanks. It's my dad's recipe." She thought she and Papyrus had done a really good job with it.

"So, what is all this about?" he asked, gesturing to the tablecloth and candles.

Frisk took a deep breath and decided that this was going to happen right now. No more excuses, dammit! She licked her lips and put her spoon down.

"Um…it's your brother's way of helping me do something."

He cocked his head to an angle. "Helping you do what?"

"Ask you to go out with me. So…um…will you? Go out with me, I mean."

He stared at her for a moment, not really sure what to say. After he'd had a second to wrap his brain around her question, he smiled.

"Hell yeah. Is this our first date?"

She smiled back. "It could be. I mean, we might want to light the candles and make it official."

With a quick nod, Sans got up to get a lighter. Once the candles were lit, he sat back down and stared at her.

He could hardly believe what had just happened. Were they dating now? If this was their first date, then yes.

"Wow, you look really happy right now, Sans." Frisk couldn't get over how giddy he looked. It reminded her of the one Christmas he'd gotten the game station he'd begged for months to get. "You look like a kid on Christmas."

He laughed and blushed a little. "Well, maybe because that's how I feel. I mean, I've wanted to ask you out for _years_ , and now this is finally happening."

"Years? Why didn't you ever do it, you psycho?" She knew that answer. He probably had, and she had probably been the one to misunderstand a few times.

"Hey, I'm not the psycho. I didn't do it because you were always hangin' on some other guy's arm." But, finally, she'd hold onto his. "At least we're finally coming together now, right?" He reached across the table for her hand.

She met his hand and held on to his. "Yeah."

After they ate, they cleaned up the kitchen together and then went to sit on the couch.

"So, what would we normally do after a date?" Sans asked.

"Is it over already?" She had wanted it to last all night.

"It sure as hell doesn't have to be." He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer. "We could watch a movie."

She nodded. They decided on a romance story about two monsters in college.

As Frisk leaned against him, he played with her hair and thought about the things he'd be able to do now that they were dating. He'd be able to tell people she was his girlfriend. He'd be able to kiss her. He'd be able to buy her cute little things that reminded him of her without someone teasing him about it. The possibilities were endless.

As the couple in the movie began kissing, Frisk scooted a little closer to Sans and looked up at him.

"I want you to do that," she said with a smile.

He smiled back and kissed her. "Anything you want, sweetheart." Ooh. Pet names. He liked that idea. He reached up with one skeletal hand to cup her cheek as he kissed her again. As she kissed him back, he manifested his tongue to give her a more authentic experience.

Frisk could hardly believe this was finally happening. She'd dreamed about making out with him for years, and she was not disappointed. His magic tasted like corndogs and pasta; no doubt the two things he ate the most often. Although a strange mix, it was undoubtedly Sans.

Papyrus walked silently down the stairs to put his bowl in the sink. He smiled triumphantly when he saw his brother and best human friend making out on the couch. His mission had been a success. He silently cheered them on before going back up to his room to finish his essay.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Reviews are lovely; I'd love to know your thoughts!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Two updates in a day again?! I forgot to update last night, so you guys earned it. Enjoy!

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART SEVEN~*~

Sans closed his eyes and imagined the equation for a moment. Numbers, letters, and symbols aligned themselves in order. He began following each step of the process in his head. He scribbled down another set of symbols, letters, and numbers. He frowned to himself. This wasn't getting him where he needed to be fast enough. He wanted the damn answer already.

He backed up and looked at the wall. It was covered in equations and formulas that he and Gaster had worked on together. Luckily, his landlord had approved the whiteboard paint and he could use the entire wall for his work.

He looked up at the knock on the door. His brow bones furrowed; he wasn't expecting anyone today. Or maybe he was. What day was it again?

He sucked in a breath and went to answer the door.

Frisk smiled at him and held up a bag from a local fast food joint. "I know you're not eating, so I brought you food."

He smiled and kissed her before letting her in. "You're too good to me. How did you know I haven't eaten?"

She set the bag down on the counter and turned to him in silence. She stared at him for a moment, waiting to see if he'd remember.

Sans felt like he was missing something important. His brain kept going back to that damn wall. He was _so close_ to the answer.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm missing something." He scratched his skull. "What did I forget?"

"Our date last night." She'd gotten over her anger already after leaving him a colorful voicemail that she knew he hadn't listened to yet. She knew he was onto something big with Gaster and that it was taking up a lot of his time and focus. "And lunch today."

He walked up to her and put his hands on her hips. "I'm really sorry, baby." He kissed her. "Can I make it up to you?"

"You can eat something, for starters." She held the front of his shirt and kissed him again. "Then we'll talk."

He was relieved that she still liked him enough to kiss him. After one more kiss, he pulled back and followed her to the table.

Frisk watched him as they ate. He devoured his burger as if he hadn't eaten anything for two days. She wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case. It seemed adulthood barely fit him. Even at twenty-three, he needed someone in his life to keep him on track. Thank goodness he had her, she thought.

Still, she wanted more than to see him only a few times a week. They had been dating for five years, getting closer and learning more about each other with each passing year. She was ready to take this relationship further.

As they ate, he talked to her about what he was working on. She understood snippets of it, things like how he and Gaster were working on a theory about spacetime and how it related to gravity. Most of it went over her head, but she knew it helped him to talk about it. She loved how enthralled he was with his work.

Once they were finished, Sans all but dragged her into the living room so he could show her what he and Gaster had done the day before. They'd made a minor breakthrough in part of the theory, but they couldn't really get too much further without the other part.

"You realize that this entire wall is just numbers and symbols to me, right?" she asked.

Sans looked at her blankly for a second. "No, it's science."

She smiled. "Gibberish."

He took a breath and reminded himself again that not everyone in the world understood what he was working on. He pulled her close to him and kissed her.

"You're right; we shouldn't talk about my work. What would you like to talk about?"

She ran her fingers up his shirt, making a point to feel each and every one of his ribs as she did so. "What about how sexy I think you are when you're being all smart?"

He grinned. "I knew you liked it."

"Tell me again about that thing."

He snorted. "You need to be a little more specific."

"I don't know if I can be. You know what, what if you just make love to me? I really missed you last night."

He nodded. "I'm sorry about that, baby." He kissed her. "But I will do my best to make it up to you in my bed."

"Delete your voicemail, too. Not right now, but don't listen to it. It's just me ranting about how you're a workaholic and I hate it."

He nodded again, still pulling toward his room. "I'm also a Friskaholic." Another kiss. "Gentle or no?"

She reached up and framed his face with her hands. "Gentle."

He picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to his room where he laid her down reverently. He made sure to forget about anything and everything that wasn't Frisk. She was the most important thing in his life; he couldn't afford to upset her. He felt bad enough that he'd forgotten their date. That had only ever happened one other time and it nearly cost him their relationship. He had to do better.

Every touch was delicious fire to Frisk. She hadn't been lying when she said she missed him. She craved his touch as much as she did his presence. She loved how he worshipped her and took care to give her everything she needed. In return, she gave him what she knew he wanted.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear.

She kissed him and closed her eyes, taking in every sensation. "I love you, too."

"I promise I'll never forget…another date."

"You better not. Mmm…" She held him tighter and kissed him deeper. His magic still tasted like corn dogs and pasta; still his staple foods.

* * *

As they laid together, her head on his ribs and his arm around her, he played with her hair and thought about how lucky he was to have her. She had given him everything and rarely asked for much other than his attention in return. She even forgave him when he failed to give her that much.

He kissed her head and held her a little tighter. He truly loved her. He wished there was a way he could show her just how much he loved her. He'd thought about asking her to marry him for a few months, but he wanted to do it right. A regular engagement ring didn't sit right with him. Nothing about their love was regular. She deserved something as unique as they were.

"What are you thinking?" she asked quietly. Her fingers traced a soft pattern on his sternum.

"I want you to marry me." He sucked in a quick breath; he hadn't meant to actually say that.

Frisk could tell he'd let the cat out of the bag by the way his bones stiffened. Still, his proposal was very…Sans. She leaned up on her elbow and kissed him.

"That's good, because I want to marry you."

He frowned a little. "I wanted to propose with something special. I was thinking about how I would do that."

"Well, I'm not going to pretend you didn't ask me."

He smiled and nuzzled her cheek. "Technically, I didn't ask."

"I don't care. There's no going back now. We're engaged." She laid back down on his chest, smiling widely. "I'm so happy right now."

Sans hugged her tightly. "I'm happy that you're happy. You realize I'm going to still propose with something special, right?"

She looked up at him and nodded. "You better. I mean, I need a ring."

He nodded. A ring she would get.

* * *

Sans looked around nervously. The restaurant was not very busy, but it was still crowded enough to make this a terrifying prospect.

His entire family was present, including Frisk's parents and Papyrus' boyfriend of several years. Both his dads sat to his left while Frisk sat on his right.

He'd talked to both Gaster and Grillby after accidentally proposing to Frisk. They were happy for him, and Grillby helped him design the perfect engagement ring after Gaster suggested a simple diamond. He didn't understand why it had to be something more than that, but Grillby did. He figured he'd explain it to his husband later.

Once he had the ring, he spoke with Jordan and AnnaLee. They both gave him their blessing, which made him feel better about stealing their only child. AnnaLee told him they considered him and his brother their other children already anyway, so it was just sealing the deal.

Papyrus still had no idea what they were doing here. He thought it was just a nice family dinner. When he'd asked if he could bring along his boyfriend, Sans didn't have the heart to say no.

He hoped Frisk was still oblivious as well. Although they'd already started looking into apartments to get together, they knew they were going to wait until after they were married to move in together. Frisk wanted to keep some kind of small human tradition in their union, and Sans respected that.

He'd been doing better at making sure he remembered their dates. Frisk had taken to texting him the day before they had anything planned to make sure he wasn't drowning in work again. It had saved his ass more than once.

Everyone at the table was quietly talking amongst themselves. He listened in to Frisk's conversation for a moment; she was talking to her mother about a few jobs she'd applied for. He knew she wasn't happy where she was currently working, so he hoped something worked out for her. Then again, maybe once they were married she'd choose to stay at home. Maybe they could adopt a few kids.

He took a deep breath and listened in on his dads' conversation. They were talking about Grillby's next project: he wanted to add a second pool table to his bar and maybe even a foosball table. His bar had been getting busier lately with too many people crowded around the single pool table he currently had.

After another few minutes, he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. They were all done eating; he needed to do this before he chickened out. Besides, it wasn't like she'd say no.

Once he had the attention of everyone at his table—and a few extras, he realized—he took a breath and stood up.

"I, um…I'd like to thank you guys for coming tonight. It means a lot to me to get family together." He could feel everyone's eyes on him. It made his bones itchy. He fidgeted with his glass for a moment. "But, uh, this is a little more than that." He turned to Frisk and held out his hand. "Will you stand with me?"

Frisk smiled; she had hoped this would be the night he'd officially propose. She took his hand and stood up. She knew he was nervous, but this was bound to be perfect.

"Frisk, there are so many things I want to say to you right now. I wrote down several speeches I might give to tell you how much I love you, but words just don't seem right. I can't _tell_ you how much you mean to me, so I hope this will help."

After another deep breath, he got down on one knee and pulled a box out from his pocket. He held it up and opened it. "Will you marry me?"

"Oh, Sans, of course I will!"

He stood up and pulled the ring out of the box. He was hyper aware of applause all around him as he slipped it onto her finger and kissed her.

She hugged him tightly before holding her hand out to see how the ring glittered in the soft light of the restaurant. It was a thin silver band with an eternity symbol on top. Nestled inside the holes of the symbol on one side was an opal heart. In the other side was a ruby heart.

"The ruby represents you," Sans explained, "and the opal is me. Our souls, entwined together for eternity."

"Did you make it?"

He shook his head. "I didn't make it, but I designed it. Dad helped me; he was the one that suggested the colors. He said you've always been a vibrant red, and my soul is white, so that's how I got those. Are you happy with it?"

She grinned brightly and leaned up to kiss him again. "It's more than perfect. Thank you."

They sat back down. As Frisk showed off her ring to her mother, her father congratulated Sans.

Papyrus all but pulled Frisk out of her seat to hug her. "WOWIE!" he cried, "I can't believe you'll really be my sister. I'm so happy!"

Frisk hugged him back before showing off the ring again.

Papyrus was nearly vibrating as he hugged his brother and congratulated him as well. He went to sit back down, still shaking with excitement. Mettaton put a hand on his bony fists in the middle of the table. He calmed down enough to unfurl his fingers and grip Mettaton's. He grinned at his boyfriend who smiled back.

Sans was a little overwhelmed. It was a good thing he only ever needed to do this once because he wasn't sure he could handle strangers coming up to talk to him about his new engagement. He sure as hell knew he couldn't handle strangers ogling his new fiancée either.

Saying goodbye to people felt like a relief. He could finally go home with Frisk and have a quiet evening with the love of his life. They had decided they'd stay the night at her place since he had a bad habit of leaving work everywhere. As soon as she'd hugged everyone there was to hug—including Mettaton—he was finally able to lead her away to his car.

"Oh, what a fabulous night," she cooed as he opened the passenger side door for her. She stared at her ring the entire ride, grinning like an idiot and occasionally laughing with how giddy she felt.

Sans had a permanent smile as well. He was thrilled that she was so happy. Discovering new things at work wasn't as amazing as seeing her happiness right now.

Once at her house, Sans followed her inside and shut the door behind him. He watched her twirl her way to the closet where she hung up her jacket and took off her shoes. She gave him a sly look and beckoned him closer with her fingers. He obliged.

"I love you, Sans," she said as she reached up to hold onto his tie. "I want to get married as soon as possible. We'll grow old an ornery together."

He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close. "Gentle or no?" he asked.

She bit her lip and looked up at him. "I think I need to ask you that question," she replied.

He raised a brow bone. "What do you mean?"

Without a word, she turned around and led him to her bedroom, still holding onto his tie. Once there, she pushed him back to her bed until he sat down.

"Gentle or no?" she asked. She pushed his shoulders, urging him to lie down.

"Definitely no."

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts.

Also, I have two more parts set aside for this story, but they're not fully written yet. Do you guys have any questions, or anything you'd like me to address? I'm not opposed to adding more parts to answer those questions or address those comments/concerns.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry for the delay on this one! Muses took a day off, which considering how hard they were pushing me to write for a while there, I can't blame them. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART EIGHT~*~

The music was soft and melodious. Sans held Frisk close to him as they danced together in the middle of the large hall. People stood all around them, watching as they shared their first dance as husband and wife.

"I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world at our prom," Sans started.

Frisk smiled at the memory.

"And then I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world the night I proposed to you. I was wrong on both occasions."

Her smile faded. What?

"You, right here and now, are the most beautiful woman in the world. You outshine even past you a thousand to one. Goddamn, you're just…gorgeous!"

He pulled her close and kissed her.

Frisk smirked when she pulled back. "You love me just for my looks, don't you?"

Sans chuckled. "You got me. I don't care that you put up with all my work, or that you cheer me on no matter what I'm doing. I couldn't care less that you are literally the only person to put up with my humor. I mean, I really don't care that you've been there with me through thick and thin, through sickness and health, and all that vow crap already. I'm just marrying you for your body."

She leaned in and kissed him again. "That's okay, because I'm only marrying you for your magic penis." She raised her eyebrows. They both snorted.

"Well, good. I thought it might be something cheesy like how much you love me back."

She laughed. "You wish."

He spun her, bringing her back effortlessly and bending her back in a low dip. Once lifted back up, they continued their dance.

"I did, actually," he confessed. "I wished upon a star eight years ago that you would love me the way I love you. I think it worked."

She grinned back. "Really? I wished upon a star eight years ago that you would ask me to your senior prom."

"Ah, so it's your fault. I wished my wish on prom night." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I should have known something funky was going on."

Their dance ended, and the crowd applauded. As the next song started, their guests joined in their dancing.

"I really do love you, Sans," Frisk said, leaning into him.

Sans pulled her close, wrapping both arms around her waist to hug her tightly. "I love you, too. More than I ever thought I could love someone."

She kissed him. "I'm so happy that I got to marry you."

He pulled back and continued to move with her. "You'll regret it one day, don't worry."

"May I cut in?" Jordan asked.

Frisk smiled at her dad. "Of course."

Sans let her go and went to find some hors d'oeuvres. He smiled at his dads dancing together. They were still cute together. He spotted Papyrus dancing with Mettaton. The robot monster was classy, that was for sure. Sans had a feeling the two would be together for a long time.

As he munched on snacks and watched his new wife dancing with his new father-in-law, he thought about what the future was going to hold for them. He wanted to start working on his doctorate degree soon, which meant they would see each other less than they were used to. He didn't like it, but there were too many perks to go along with the degree; too many opportunities would be opened up to him. Frisk had even told him she wouldn't allow herself to stand in his way, so he knew she was all for it.

They were planning to take a vacation for their honeymoon. They both wanted to go somewhere with a nice beach and lots of alcohol, but also somewhere decently monster-friendly. On one hand, he was excited to have a few weeks alone with his wife. On the other, he knew he wasn't going to be able to leave work alone the whole time. They were both going to have to come to terms with that pretty quickly or he'd be likely to ruin the whole thing. Sometimes, he really wished his brain came with an 'off' switch.

He and Gaster had made an unprecedented discovery and were chosen to receive an award for their work. He was pretty excited about the discovery; it meant a new and safer way for astronauts to travel further than ever before.

"What are you doing over here by yourself?"

He looked up to see AnnaLee standing beside him. He smiled at her and offered her a shrimp roll. She took it with a smile.

"Watching my gorgeous wife dance with her dad and thinking about life." He shrugged. He knew he would never, ever get enough of calling Frisk his wife.

"Good thoughts, I hope?"

He nodded. "The future, mostly. I'm not looking forward to school, but I know it'll be worth it."

"Yeah. Oh, I read that article you sent to us. Although I didn't understand very much about your work, it was impressive. I'm proud of you." She reached out and squeezed his arm. "You're going to do great things, Sans. You already have."

He smiled again. "Thanks, AnnaLee. I guess I should probably get used to calling you Mom?" It felt weird. He'd never called anyone that in his life.

AnnaLee laughed at the look on his face. "Whatever you want to call me is fine."

"Don't say that; I might start calling you random nicknames." He ate another shrimp roll. They were the best out of all the hors d'oeuvres, he thought.

"I wouldn't put it past you. Either Mom or AnnaLee, then."

"I can do that."

The song ended, and Sans watched as Frisk and Jordan came toward them.

"The way you watch her is fascinating," AnnaLee commented.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her. "It's not my fault she's so captivating."

"Who's captivating?" Frisk asked as she reached them.

Sans took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "You are, my wife." He pulled her close and hugged her.

Frisk hugged him back. "I love you, my husband." She shivered with delight at the word. She was a married woman now.

He kissed her. "Love you, too."

She kissed him again, her brow furrowed. "Why do you taste like shrimp?"

He held out a shrimp roll. He may have eaten more than his fair share. "Would you like one?"

She nodded and opened her mouth.

"Dasgud," She mumbled through the roll in her mouth.

"Frisk," AnnaLee chided.

Frisk just shrugged. It was her wedding; she could talk with her mouth full if she wanted to.

After the festivities, the newly married couple left in a limousine that took them to a quaint bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town. They wanted a fresh space to stay for their wedding night, and this place had been recommended to them by two of their closest friends.

The owners were waiting for them when they got there. An older human couple, they smiled brightly and greeted them warmly as Sans helped Frisk out of the limo.

"Welcome!" the older gentleman said with an outstretched hand. "My name is Paul, and this is my wife, Mary."

Sans shook his hand. "Nice to meet you both in person. I'm Sans, and this is my new wife, Frisk."

Paul and Sans carried the luggage in while Mary led Frisk to the honeymoon suite.

"You're going to love it here," she said with a sweet smile. "We take a lot of pride in our work; everything will be very clean and tidy."

The room was gorgeous. There was a large, four-post bed with red and white bedding, white carpet, and a large, heart-shaped jacuzzi by the bathroom.

Frisk couldn't help but blush. As she looked around, she thought of all the different ways she and Sans would be able to utilize the room for their lovemaking.

"We normally do breakfast in the morning at around eight, but just call when you're up and we'll get something started fresh for you."

She smiled at the older woman. "Thank you so much."

Sans and Paul came in with the luggage and set it down. Sans whistled as he looked around the room. His thoughts mirrored those of his wife. This was going to be a fun night.

After saying goodnight to the owners and locking the door, Sans pulled Frisk close to him. She put her hands on his shoulders and gripped his shirt there.

"I'm not sure what to do now," he confessed. "I mean, I want to just strip you naked right now, but…I dunno. I've never done this wedding night thing before."

Frisk snorted. "Me neither. Although, I might have an idea."

Sans raised his brow bones and kissed her. "What's that?"

"An idea? Well, it's—"

He poked her side. "No," he laughed. "What's your idea?"

"I'm thinking we should probably utilize the jacuzzi first and then probably test the structural integrity of every flat surface this room has to offer."

He nodded. "I really, really like that idea." He kissed her and started leading her toward the jacuzzi. "Gentle or no?"

"It's our wedding night, Sans! Gentle, of course. And then no. And then probably no again, and then gentle, and then…" she trailed off as he kissed her again.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I would like to give a big thanks to Dragonsrule18 on Archive of our Own for the suggestion that led to this part. THANK YOU!

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART NINE~*~

"SANS! FRISK! I NEED YOUR HELP!" Papyrus pounded on the door to their apartment.

Frisk opened an eye and looked up at Sans. He grunted and pushed her gently.

"You get it," he mumbled groggily.

She shook her head. "He's your brother." She glanced at the window; it was pitch dark outside.

"And he's only been your brother-in-law for two years. You owe it to him."

Another series of hard knocks on the door.

She snorted and pushed him. "He's going to break the door down if you don't go answer it."

"I'm naked."

"And I'm not? Besides, I have boobs."

Sans finally opened his eyes and looked over at her. She immediately covered herself with the sheet. "Hey, I was looking."

"They're my boobs. If you want to see them, go find out what your brother needs."

"You devious little shit." He sat up enough to kiss her before he got up, pulled on some shorts, and went to answer the door. He made sure to shut the bedroom door so Frisk could get dressed.

She pulled on a long nightgown and went out to see why her brother-in-law needed them so badly.

"Calm down, Paps; breathe." Sans patted Papyrus' back and smirked at Frisk when she came in. Her hair was a tousled mess of curls. It was adorable.

"Is everything okay?" She asked as she rubbed her right eye. She glanced at the clock in the kitchen—four in the morning. "What's going on?"

Papyrus was breathing heavily and shaking, his bones rattling softly. "I've made an important discovery!" he all but shouted. "And I need your help!"

"Okay," Frisk said softly as she walked up and hugged him gently. "We're here for you, honey. Come sit down." They sat on the couch, and Frisk took his hand. "Now tell us what's going on."

Papyrus took a deep breath and looked between the two before he smiled. "I want to ask Mettaton to marry me."

Sans' face went blank. "You came up here and woke us up at four in the morning for that?"

"Sans," Frisk chided. Although, she was a bit irritated as well.

"YES!" Papyrus shouted. "I don't know how! What if he says no? What if…what if he says _yes_?!" He covered his face in his hands. "What if it's not the best proposal I could give him? I don't even know how?"

Sans chuckled. "You could always just tell him you want him to marry you one night after sex." He shrugged at the look Frisk shot him.

"Ignore your brother, Paps." She rubbed his back soothingly. "We'll help you come up with the perfect proposal." She yawned deeply and patted his shoulder blade. "But it's gonna have to be in the morning. Can you let us sleep for another few hours?"

Papyrus nodded. "Thank you, Frisk." He hugged her tightly. "And Sans, I guess. You will help, won't you, Brother?"

Sans couldn't resist the pleading look on his brother's face. "You know I will, Bro."

After another round of hugs, they got Papyrus settled on the couch and went back to bed.

* * *

After breakfast the following morning, Frisk and Sans set to work helping Papyrus plan the perfect proposal.

Mettaton had always been an entertainer. From a young age, he and Papyrus would play pretend interview. Mettaton would ask outrageous questions about what Papyrus would do in certain scenarios, and Papyrus would give down-to-earth, simple answers. The robot monster had a flair for the dramatic while the skeleton liked to pretend he did not. In all reality, Papyrus could be just as dramatic—if not more so—than Mettaton.

It had always been Mettaton's dream to be an actor. He wanted to star in his own TV show where he would talk to other people, put on skits, and host celebrities. He was on his way to achieving his dream: his talk show had begun airing only a few months prior to Papyrus' discovery.

"What makes you think you want to marry him?" Sans asked. "And I mean that in a serious way, Paps; I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I just wanna make sure you're coming from the right place."

Frisk nodded. "That's a good idea."

Papyrus thought about it for a moment. "I feel like I can be myself around him," he answered. "He always makes me happy. I never have to hide my enthusiasm for anything when he's near. Even when others are put off by my energy, he stands up for me. He'll do crazy things for me to get the attention drawn to himself so I don't feel so…spotlighted."

Sans nodded. "Those are all good reasons. Why are you worried he'll say no?"

"Weren't you worried Frisk would say no?"

Sans thought about that. "Actually, no. I mean, I did kind of spill the beans early, but even then, I wasn't worried about her saying she didn't want to get married. It was like this feeling of peace that I knew…I knew it was time."

Frisk smiled at him. "Me too."

"How do I know it's time?" Papyrus was desperate for the answer. "I mean, I feel it in my soul that I want to be with him for the rest of my life. No matter what happens with his TV show; if it flounders or if he becomes the biggest star in the world, I want to be his husband. I could support us both with my cooking career."

Papyrus had carved out a nice career for himself as a chef. He was something of a local celebrity since part of his start had been to sell baked goods and entrees around the neighborhood. He'd branded himself The Great Papyrus and dreamed of one day cooking with some of the great TV chefs, or even becoming one himself.

Frisk and Sans looked at each other and nodded. It seemed that Papyrus' discovery was spot on.

"I thought about maybe asking to be on his show and then proposing then, but that seems scary."

Frisk shook her head. "Don't do that. That would be putting a lot of pressure on him, and he'd probably not like that." She pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "What does he like to do for fun?"

"He loves to dance. He's one of the best dancer's I've seen. Oh, he's just good at everything."

"Maybe take him out dancing and then cook him a nice meal and incorporate it into that somehow?" Sans offered. "I would probably suggest not putting the ring in something he'd eat, but maybe write something in frosting."

"I like that idea!" Papyrus could see that play out nicely. "But what kind of ring would I get for him?"

Frisk held out her left hand. "Do you want one with your colors like this, or something a bit more traditional?"

Papyrus shrugged. "I don't know! What would Mettaton want? He'd want something…fabulous. Can you help me, Sans?"

"I'll give you the information for the place I had hers made at. Dad helped me design it, Bro; I'm not good at that."

Frisk kissed his cheekbone. "You thought of the eternity symbol."

"True." He kissed her back. "I guess I'm decent at it."

"What if I chose the colors of our magic?" Papyrus asked. "Although, I'm not sure that pink and orange would go very well together."

Sans laughed. "He's definitely rubbing off on you. What if you did matching rings; yours being orange and his being pink? Or vice versa?"

Papyrus smiled widely. "YES! I LIKE THAT!" He stood up and began pacing as he talked about how the proposal would go and what the rings would look like.

Once he'd calmed down a little, they drew out what they thought the design could look like. It took a few different tries, but they finally settled on one that Papyrus thought they'd both like. Sans gave him the contact information for the jeweler he'd used.

Papyrus was much calmer, and much surer of his decision, by the time he left that evening after dinner.

After he left, Sans shut and locked the door and breathed a huge sigh.

"I love that skeleton with all my soul, but my god he can be a handful."

Frisk smiled from her spot on the couch. "He sure is enthusiastic about life. He and Mettaton are going to be so happy together."

* * *

"Relax, darling," Mettaton cooed. "It's just a dance." He held Papyrus a little closer, worried that his love was uncomfortable in such a large crowd.

Not that anyone was even looking at them; most people in the room were minding their own business, paying more attention to the dates they'd come with.

"I know; I'm sorry." Papyrus took a deep breath and told himself to relax. If all went well, Mettaton would be his fiancé by the end of the night.

"Don't apologize to me," Mettaton chided soothingly. "I'm having a lovely evening; I just wish you the same." He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Papyrus' cheekbone. "I love you."

Papyrus smiled and kissed him back. "I am having a wonderful evening, and I love you, too."

He managed to relax a bit more as the evening went on. They danced and shared kisses until they both felt tired and hungry.

"Are you sure we can't get something here?" Mettaton asked. "I know you love to cook, but I feel bad making you—"

"You are not making me do a single thing," Papyrus interrupted. "If I truly didn't want you to have a home-cooked meal, I'd give in. However, a masterpiece such as yourself deserves the culinary work of myself, The Great Papyrus."

"I suppose I can't argue with that."

Once at Papyrus' place, he was nervous again. He let Mettaton help in the kitchen simply because his presence helped to keep him calm. He knew at some point in the evening, his rattling bones would give something away, but for now he chose to enjoy having Mettaton close to him.

"You've outdone yourself, darling," Mettaton moaned as he took a bite. "This is truly glorious."

Papyrus grinned. "Thank you, although it's not nearly as glorious as you are tonight." He could feel it starting. His bones heated up as he imagined Mettaton's reaction to his inevitable question. He was confident that the answer would be yes, but in the back of his mind, he wondered 'what if'.

"Are you okay, dear? Your bones are rattling again." He reached out and put a hand on Papyrus' phalanges.

"I'm great! I have something for you. I'll be right back." He got up and left the room without another word.

Mettaton stared after him for a moment. Papyrus had been acting strange this evening; he hoped he hadn't done anything wrong. Then again, he'd also been far more charming than normal. Perhaps everything was fine and Papyrus was nervous about something unrelated to their date. He made a point to ask him about it later.

Papyrus pulled the box with the rings out of the drawer in his room and took a deep breath. This was it. He would have to ask quickly; he didn't want Mettaton to doubt that he was okay. He was just nervous.

He all but ran back out to the dining room and stood next to Mettaton.

Mettaton looked up. "What's going on, Papyrus?" he asked sincerely. His boyfriend's cheekbones were stained orange and his bones rattled harder than before; something was certainly going on.

Papyrus knelt down and took Mettaton's hand. "I have a question for you, Mettaton. I promise you, everything is perfect. Your answer is what I'm nervous about."

Mettaton tilted his head. "Okay. What's your question?"

He cleared his throat, pulled the box from his pocket, and opened it. "Will you marry me?"

Mettaton stared at the two rings nestled inside the box. They were both thick bands of white gold with a line of gems in the middle. One had pink sapphire gems and the other had fire opals. It wasn't until he heard the question that he realized how nervous he had been himself; he'd never been in a relationship before Papyrus and they rarely had arguments. Somehow, he had convinced himself that meant something was wrong. Apparently, everything was very, very right.

"Mettaton? Are you okay?" Papyrus put the box on the table and took Mettaton's hands. "What is it?" he reached out and wiped a pink tear from his boyfriend's face.

Mettaton met Papyrus' eyes. "I am so good," he whispered. "And yes, I will marry you. I'm so sorry for crying; this is just perfect. I love you so much!" He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Papyrus.

They both toppled to the floor, giggling. Mettaton sniffled and kissed Papyrus.

"You cannot apologize for crying," Papyrus said, his voice strained, "because I'm going to cry, too. I'm so happy!"

The couple got up after a few more kisses, and Mettaton picked up the box from the table.

"This is my color," he pointed to the pink sapphires. "And the fire opal is yours. Is the fire opal my ring?"

Papyrus nodded. "I had hoped you would understand the meanings." He pulled out the ring with the orange stones and slipped it onto Mettaton's finger. Mettaton did the same with the other.

"I do have one question," Mettaton said with a grin. He looked at Papyrus through his lashes.

"Yes?" He took Mettaton's hands.

"What's for dessert?"

Papyrus grinned. "You are."

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think! Also, let me know if there's anything else you'd like to read about here before I end the series.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thank you so much to the guest who suggested this topic. It's short, but it was fun to write :)

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART TEN~*~

Frisk struggled to keep her eyes open as she folded towels. It was getting late enough that Grillby would be home soon. It was a good thing, too, because she didn't like being in Gaster and Grillby's house alone. It felt weird, even if it had once been like a second home to her. She had never been there without either Sans or Papyrus.

At the moment, Sans was at work with Gaster, Papyrus was undoubtedly with his new husband somewhere fancy, and Grillby was probably closing up the bar. She had taken the day off to do laundry thanks to a malfunction with the new dryer she and Sans had just gotten. She was grateful that her fathers-in-law let her use theirs as they were closer than her parents.

She felt like she'd been folding and washing and turning laundry over for ages. She vowed never again to take simple things like a washer and dryer for granted.

She looked up when the front door opened. She heard Grillby sigh and mumble to himself as he sorted mail.

"Hi, Dad," she hollered.

"Hey, Frisk. I forgot you were here. How's laundry?"

"Ugh! Boring and taking forever. I only have one more load to go in the dryer, though, so getting there."

Grillby laughed. "I hear ya. There are a few chores I don't mind doing, but laundry is not one of them. Luckily, Gaster likes it."

"I'm so glad someone's home. I was starting to talk to myself." She smiled.

"As long as you don't answer back, you're fine. Can I help fold? I don't mind that part."

Frisk didn't hesitate to shove part of the pile in front of her toward the elemental. "I would love the company."

They folded in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Frisk started to feel like her eyes couldn't stay open again.

"You guys need a TV in here or something."

Grillby smiled. "I would agree with you if I spent much time in here without Gaster. He likes to think while doing chores, so the house is usually relatively quiet. Either that, or we'll talk."

She nodded. "Talk to me, then?"

He nodded. "Sure. What would you like to talk about?"

She thought about that for a moment. "I guess…how did you and Gaster get engaged? Did you propose?"

"Good god, no," he snorted. "I'd known for a while that I wanted to spend my life with him, but I didn't really believe in the whole marriage thing back then. My parents had divorced when I was young, and I remember thinking what the point was if it ended ugly.

"The first time Gaster asked me to marry him, he'd just graduated with his first doctorate degree and thought it would be the perfect time for us to start a new chapter in our lives. Looking back, he was absolutely right, but at the time I was too scared. I told him no, and it nearly destroyed our relationship."

Frisk thought that was sad. Obviously, Gaster had changed his mind. "What happened? I mean, it worked out somehow."

Grillby sucked in a breath and smiled. "He was persistent. I begged for more time, and he promised to give it to me if I would actually consider marrying him someday. It took me a good five months to get comfortable enough with the idea that I could even talk with him about it. That was a rocky year for the both of us."

The clothes were folded, so the two put them in their respective piles. The dryer was still going. Frisk followed Grillby out to the kitchen to help him start getting dinner ready.

"It was probably a year after he first asked me that I had been able to change my thoughts about the whole institution. He had asked me why I thought we'd someday get divorced, and I tried to explain to him that I didn't think that; it was just something I was afraid of. He didn't buy it. After doing some soul searching on the subject, I realized he was right.

"I had allowed myself to believe that we would live happily ever after if we didn't get married, but that marriage would destroy us one way or another. Once I realized my hesitation, it was easy to get over. Gaster and I were meant to be together forever, and marriage would only strengthen our bond."

He shrugged and smiled at her. "He was thrilled when I told him. He took me out to the observatory where he worked at the time and showed me several stars and talked to me about how excited he was to spend his life with me. Then he asked me to marry him. I can't describe to you how good it felt to be able to say yes and be happy about it."

Frisk thought she had a pretty good idea; she could feel the warm happiness radiating from his flames. "That's amazing. How long were you married before you decided to have kids?"

He chuckled. "Only a year. It wasn't a hard decision to make, either. One day while out walking in the park, we saw these kids playing and rolling around. We looked at each other, and it was like we both just knew. We talked about it for a while, which of us would carry the baby and what we would want for names and whatnot. We decided I'd be the carrier since Gaster was getting busier at work and I wasn't working at the time. As you know, Sans was our first. Three years later, we had Papyrus."

She loved the gleam in his flames as he talked about his sons. "That's so cute. Sans and I have been talking about adopting."

Grillby nodded. "You would be fantastic parents."

"I think I'm ready to be a mom. I wish we could have kids the traditional way, but only because I'm selfish. I want a baby that's really mine and Sans'."

Grillby set the pan with dinner aside and gently pulled her back to the laundry room to fold clothes. "I think you'll be surprised by how much you love any child you adopt. It's a big decision, but I know you and Sans will make the right one."

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I think this will be the last part for now, unless I get any suggestions for anything else :) Thank you all for giving this story a chance and for all of the lovely comments!

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART ELEVEN~*~

Frisk stared at the wall by her bed as she listened to Sans putting their children to bed. They'd adopted twin bunny babies three years ago—Talia and Brandon. After work, she had helped Sans make dinner, fed, and bathed the toddlers, then claimed she had a headache. She rarely, if ever, missed an opportunity to put her kids to bed. She loved being a mother, but something had been eating at her for the last few weeks.

She listened as Sans read to them one of his brother's favorite books from when he was a baby. She'd been surprised that Papyrus still had it, but at the same time was happy to let Sans carry on the tradition of reading _Fluffy Bunny_ at bedtime.

Once he'd read the story, he answered Talia's whispered question about what happened next. He always made up a cute little scenario for her. This time, after Fluffy Bunny found his way home, he and his siblings shared a hot meal and slept peacefully all night long. She accepted his answer and yawned.

Frisk listened—still staring at the wall—as Sans got ready for bed. The bed depressed behind her, and his arm snaked around her waist.

"What's wrong, Frisk?" he asked gently.

She shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know."

He kissed her head and pressed himself against her, tightening his arm around her. "Talk to me, baby. Let me help you figure it out."

She turned in his embrace and snuggled into him. "You and Papyrus fulfilled your life dreams the way we talked about when we were six. Do you remember that?"

Sans nodded against her hair. "Yeah. I was gonna be a scientist like my dad, and Paps was gonna be annoying. What about it, sweetheart?"

She sniffled and shrugged a little. She wasn't sure when she had started to tear up. "I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to treat both monsters and humans. I'd wanted it for so many years; I don't know what happened."

"Why didn't you ever start medical school? Your grades were good enough that you probably could have gotten a few scholarships." He wanted to know what had kept her back. He hoped it hadn't been him.

Frisk snuggled a little closer to him and kissed his clavicle. "I don't know, Sans. I was too lazy, I guess. I wasn't driven like you, and I suppose I thought I had plenty of time. All of a sudden, I'm thirty years old with two kids and not even an associate degree to my name."

"You make it sound like you're not worth anything without that." He made her look at him. "You know that's not true, right?"

"I feel like I'm not worth much, Sans. I don't know why, but I do. I mean, you've won half a dozen awards, some from freaking NASA, and Papyrus has a cooking spot on Mettaton's TV show, and…I don't know."

He sucked in a breath and kissed her. "It's not too late to go back to school."

She huffed. "And do what? It would take me ten years to become a doctor, and I'd lose that much time with Talia and Brandon."

Sans didn't know the answer. He wanted to support her in whatever she wanted to do, but it seemed she just wanted to feel sorry for herself. That was something he couldn't encourage.

"What brought this on, sweetheart?"

"I was at work today thinking about life and everything, and it just hit me. Everyone I know has done so many great things with their lives, and I've done…nothing. I'm a secretary."

He shook his head. "You can't say that. You married me, Frisk. You've kept me sane practically my entire life, and for the last three years you've been an amazing mother."

She didn't want to say it, but part of his reasoning was why she was feeling this way. She'd supported him and somehow forgot to support herself.

"Baby, you have so many options. If you still wanted to go into the medical field, you could become a nurse or a medical assistant. I know they aren't as prestigious as a doctor, but they're on the right track. You could do something else entirely if you wanted; become a teacher or start a business. You can do anything you want to do, and I promise you that you won't miss time with our kids." He kissed her again. "You can quit your job and focus on school for the time being so you don't feel like you have to choose kids over your career."

"I can't quit my job." She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Because then all of the financial responsibility would be on you, and that's just not fair."

He sighed and nuzzled his face against her hair. He knew she needed comfort, but her constant arguing with his suggestions was annoying. He just wanted to make her feel better, dammit.

"I love you," he said softly. "I make enough to support our family on my income alone. If you don't want to quit, then don't. If you want to go back to school, do it. If not, don't. I will stand behind and support you no matter what you choose to do. What I can't get behind, however, is you talking about yourself like you're not the most amazing wife and mother in the world. Those kids adore you, and so do I."

Frisk thought about that for a second. She just wanted to be able to look back on her life and feel like she'd done something great. "I don't know what I want to do."

"That's okay. Will you do me a favor and start thinking about it? You don't have to make any decisions; just think about what you want your life to be like in five years."

She laid her head back down on his ribs. "I can do that."

"Thank you." He squeezed her gently. "Are you tired?"

She nodded and yawned. "I am. Are you?"

"Not really, but I'm not gonna leave you alone." He started to play with her hair. "You go to sleep, baby. I'll be right here."

* * *

"I want to do something nice for Frisk," Sans announced.

Gaster looked up at him. "O-okay?" They were in the middle of testing a hypothesis. It could mean big news if they were right. He wasn't sure why his son and lab partner would bring up his personal life now.

"She's feeling down, like she hasn't done anything with her life. I want to make her feel every bit the amazing woman she is."

That time Gaster smiled. "Your father went through something similar when he was getting his bar up and running. It struggled at first, and he thought he'd made the wrong decision. It was a rough patch of months, and I encouraged him to do what he felt was right. If he wanted to scratch the whole thing and cut his losses, I'd stand behind him. He chose to stick with it and look where he is now—his is one of the most popular places around.

Sans smiled ruefully. He remembered that rough patch; it had been hard for him to watch his dad go through that. He knew it would be even harder to watch his wife go through the same thing.

"How do I help her?"

"Be as positive as you can be, Sans. Remind her every single day how important she is to you and those around her. Especially her children. I believe you and Papyrus were more of a reason for him to keep going than I was. He wanted to succeed for you two."

The conversation was lost as soon as the results came in. Sans and Gaster both let out a sigh as they realized they'd been proven wrong. Back to the drawing board, it seemed.

* * *

Sans looked around the room and nodded to himself. Everything was clean—even the windows had been wiped of their fingerprints and baby smudges.

Frisk was due home any minute. She'd taken the kids to spend the day with her parents. Sans had made up an excuse to stay home. He needed to do something good for his wife before she spiraled down into something he couldn't help her up from. He'd cleaned the house and made ordered food from one of Frisk's favorite restaurants. She was going to relax tonight; he would make sure of it.

He felt a little giddy when he heard the car pull up. He made sure all of his cleaning supplies were put away, grabbed a random book from the bookshelf, and sat down to pretend he'd been reading.

Frisk heaved a sigh as she pulled Talia out of her car seat and set her on the ground next to her brother. The little monster looked up with tired eyes and started to cry, lifting her tiny paws up in a silent request to be held.

"Oh, sweetie," Frisk moaned. She just wanted today to be done. She'd had a good time at her parents', but she was thinking maybe adopting twins had been a bad idea. Brandon rubbed his eyes and held up his other hand. She suddenly felt bad for thinking that; she loved both of her kids, no matter how many handfuls they might be.

"What kind of mother am I?" she asked herself. She pulled the baby bag out of the car, picked up her crying daughter, took her son's hand, and finally walked—slowly—up the driveway to the house.

As soon as she opened the door, she sucked in a quick breath. The entryway was clean. The door didn't have smudges. She walked in and let Brandon go. He screeched in his little adorable way and all but attacked Sans.

"Sans…" Frisk looked around. The carpet was devoid of toys. It had even been vacuumed. She walked around, taking in the sight of a truly clean house as if she'd never seen it before. There wasn't a single dirty dish in the sink. In fact, the sink itself was spotless. The floor had most certainly been mopped. She distinctly remembered a stain on the tile that she'd told herself for the last week she was going to get rid of. It was gone.

She felt tears forming in her eyes as she continued to look around. The bathrooms were clean in a way she didn't think she'd seen since the kids got old enough to walk. The kids' bedroom was neatly organized and the beds made.

She felt a hand on her back and turned to plant her face in her husband's shirt. She had to maneuver a little bit to accommodate for their daughter resting on his shoulder.

Sans wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her head. "I hope you don't mind I stayed behind to surprise you with this."

Frisk looked up at him and wiped a tear from her face. "If there weren't kids present, I would tell you exactly how lucky you will be getting tonight."

He laughed. "I look forward to it, but I do have plans leading up to that."

"What plans?"

He kissed her. Talia patted his cheekbone, a request for her own kiss. He smiled and kissed her tiny nose.

"First, the kids are going to stay with Paps and Mettaton tonight. Second, you and I will be staying at that hotel over by Dad's bar. I've got reservations and everything." He squeezed her gently. "All you have to do is relax and enjoy the evening."

She nodded and rested her head against his shoulder. "That sounds so good right now."

"I've already packed their second bags up to go to Paps'. He said they'd be happy to wash anything you need washed from their bags you took today, so we'll just take everything." He pulled her gently toward the living room. "Do you need to do anything before we go?"

She shook her head. "I had been planning on making dinner, but I assume you have that figured out as well?" At least, she hoped he did.

He smirked. "Of course."

"Why are we leaving again?" Brandon asked as they got back into the car.

Sans leaned down as he buckled his son in. "You and your sister are going to stay with Uncle Papyrus and Uncle Mettaton for the night. They missed you so much they asked if they could have you."

Brandon smiled. "But only for one night."

"Of course. They can't _have_ you, like forever. Mommy would miss you."

The boy giggled. "So would you, Daddy!"

"Oh, I guess I probably would." He leaned in and kissed his son's forehead. "I love you, for some reason."

Talia was already half asleep as Frisk buckled her in. By the time they made it to Papyrus and Mettaton's place, she was out.

Papyrus and Mettaton helped Sans and Frisk get the kids in the house. Talia was upset at having been woken up, but Mettaton soon had her smiling. He was her favorite uncle because his magic was her favorite color.

Papyrus had dinner for the four of them ready to go. Sans and Frisk said goodnight to their children and left.

Frisk enjoyed the silent car ride to the restaurant. As Sans pulled into parking lot, she thought of something.

"I probably should have changed my clothes," she said. The place wasn't exactly fancy, but she was in a t-shirt and jeans.

Sans had known she'd think about that. "That's why we're not eating here. We're just picking up the food and taking it to the hotel. I ordered your favorite."

She looked at her husband for a moment, wondering to herself how she'd gotten so lucky. "Thank you, Sans."

He leaned over and kissed her again before turning off the car. Frisk chose to stay there while he picked up their order. Once he returned, he had her hold onto the bag as he drove the to the hotel.

Sans opened her door for her when they reached the hotel. He took the bag as well and held her hand as they checked in and walked up to their room. He had requested that there be plates and silverware waiting for them, and he was not disappointed. The small table in the room had been set up romantically with two place settings and a bottle of wine already chilling on ice.

"What is this all about, Sans?" Frisk asked as they ate. "I mean, I'm grateful for it. I'm just curious—is something going on?"

Sans reached out to take her hand across the table. "The only thing going on is you being stressed out and having a hard time. Don't think I haven't noticed it getting worse for you. I'm hopeful that tonight will help."

Her eyes watered a little at the thought of him putting so much work into helping her feel a little better. It was working; she was able to let herself relax more than she than had in what felt like months. No kids, housework, or paperwork to deal with, she could just focus on herself and her husband.

"Thank you," she whispered, squeezing his hand a little.

After their meal was finished, he ran them a hot bubble bath and gave her a massage in the tub. As he rubbed her back and shoulders he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"I want you to know how much you mean to me, Frisk." He kissed her hair. "If you're not happy, I can't be happy. I know things have been hard for you recently with the kids and your job, but you're not alone. I'm here with you every step of the way. Lean on me, baby. Let me take some of this stress for you."

She leaned back into him and his arms wrapped around her. She loved moments like these when they were so close together. It was sensual and romantic in a way that sex alone couldn't touch.

"I don't know how to do that," she said as she leaned her head back on his clavicle. "I know we're a team, but sometimes it feels like I am alone. I don't know why."

"Do I need to do more around the house?"

She shook her head. "You do plenty, baby. You help out with the kids; I mean, you do everything I think a husband should do. I wish I knew why I felt this way."

She turned in the water so she was facing him and planted a kiss on his teeth. His hands went to her hips and rubbed gently up her back.

"You mentioned that you felt like everyone else had done so much with their lives; do you feel like you haven't accomplished enough?" He let his hands travel back down her back to her hips before lightly grazing back up.

"Maybe. I mean, our kids are growing up around so many amazing people, and then there's me."

His brow bones furrowed. "You're an amazing person, too, Frisk. Why do you think you're not?"

Her chest felt tight like it did when she was going to cry. She hated this; she just wished she could be happy like before. "I want to be someone my children can look up to. They have so many role models all around them, and I'm…who am I, Sans?" she met the lights in his eye sockets and sniffled. "I'm no one. I'm lazy and stupid and—"

Sans reached up and put his hand over her mouth. "Don't ever say that, Frisk," he all but demanded. "You are not stupid, not even a little bit. Everyone is lazy sometimes, so you're entitled. But holy hell, you're raising twins and working a full-time job! That's the fucking opposite of lazy."

As much as it hurt him to hear the words she'd said, he felt like they'd finally made progress. This was something he could work with, something he could show her how to overcome. He hugged her tightly before pushing up gently; he was ready to get out.

Frisk got up and dried off as Sans let the water out of the tub. She tried hard not to cry, but she felt so lost. She followed him to the bed and slipped in when he pulled the comforter and sheet down for her. A little confused, she watched him as he dug something out of a bag before joining her.

"What is that?" she asked.

He smiled and held up a little blue pouch. "You've been being so hard on yourself lately that I thought I should probably start gathering evidence to prove what an amazing person you really are."

Her brows furrowed. "How would you get that kind of evidence?"

He moved the pillows around and sat up against the headboard before urging her over to rest against him. He put a pillow on his lap for her. She snuggled up to him and kissed his ribs.

"I'm going to read these to you. I asked all our friends and family to write down a few things you've done to help them out, or even just reasons that you're an incredible person."

Frisk nodded. "Okay." She wasn't sure how this was going to help, but she trusted him.

He opened the pouch and cleared his throat. "'She talked me out of suicide.' That one's from Ashley. I didn't know about that."

Frisk remembered that day clearly. Ashley, one of her close human friends, had been going through a rough patch with her husband. He had somehow convinced her that she was worthless and that she'd be better off dead. Frisk convinced her otherwise, and soon Ashley was able to divorce the jerk. She was much happier now on her own.

"'She encouraged me to start my business!' That's from Wyatt." He smiled. "You helped the Nice Cream Guy."

Frisk smiled at that. Wyatt was such a nice guy. He had always liked ice cream bars with jokes on the wrapper, but his idea was even better—compliments!

"'She helped spread the word about the bar.' From Dad." Sans ran a hand through her hair. "I remember that; you went around with me for hours passing out those damn flyers."

"It was worth it," she mumbled. Thinking about these things made her heart hurt in a strange way. They were such good memories.

Sans laughed as he pulled the next one out. "'Also, she made me a grandpa.' Well, I helped. We both signed the paperwork."

He continued to read to her snippets of moments from their friends and family. She could hardly believe some of the things that people wrote. She was amazed that such small things to her had meant so much to the people she'd done them for. She'd helped so many simply by being there and listening, caring about monsters the same way she would about humans. Even her boss had written about her, stating that he couldn't run his business without her.

Her tears had all but dried up by the time Sans was done with the papers in the pouch. He put everything back in and set it on the table beside the bed.

Frisk sniffled again and sat up, looking up at him. "I don't know what to say," she mumbled.

Sans smiled and pulled her close to him. He kissed her lips. "You don't have to say anything. All you have to do is understand that you mean so much to everyone who knows you. You want to be a good role model for your kids? You already are. You were right when you said that they have people all around them who've done incredible things with their lives, and _you're one of them_. They have one of the most selfless, most loving people in the world as their mother. How can that _not_ be a good model for them?"

She was finally able to see it. She had made herself believe that without an advanced degree and high-paying job, she wasn't good enough to be their mother. That wasn't true. She did good things every day, and they got to see most of it.

"Today, we helped an old lady at the store," Frisk said with a smile. "She was having trouble with some things in her cart. Brandon was excited to get to put her things on the cashier's counter. Talia preferred to hang on to me, but we got her all sorted. She gave each kid a quarter for their help. They were ecstatic."

Sans didn't have to say anything; he could see just from the look on her face that his point had been made. He kissed her again and put his forehead against hers.

"I love you, Frisk."

She kissed him back. "I love you, too. Thank you for all of this."

"I would do it all again in a heartbeat." He pulled her a little closer. "Please remember that you can talk to me about anything. We're in this together." He lifted her left hand and kissed her knuckles before pointing out her ring. "We are two souls bound together for eternity. I will never, ever stop trying to make you happy."

Frisk nodded and pulled him toward her as she began to lean back. "Same."

As he hovered over her, he smiled at the gleam in her eye. "So," he started. He kissed her deeply before he continued. "What was this you said earlier about me getting lucky tonight?"

She snorted. "I couldn't tell you how lucky you'd get because there were children present."

He nodded and kissed her again as his hands began to wander. "No children here. Please, do tell."

She moaned as he touched a particularly sensitive spot. "Well, considering all the things you've done since then, I think it's only fair that you get all the luck."

Sans chuckled and kissed her throat. "All the luck?"

She nodded. "All of it. Anything you want, Sans, anything at all, it's yours. Any position, any part of me…just name it and it's yours."

He thought of a few things he'd wanted to try for a while and grinned at her. "I need to clean the house more often."

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Thank you to dream1990 for the request for this chapter. Also, apologies for taking so long. Life happened and muses stopped cooperating, and I ended up scrapping what I had written before because it just wasn't working for me. I like this much better, and I hope it is worth the wait!

* * *

 **A Lifetime of Love**

~*~PART TWELVE~*~

Frisk smiled to herself as she watched her two children staring in wide-eyed wonder out the window. A winter storm had hit them hard the night before and everything outside was covered in a deep layer of snow. She had gotten a call early that morning to inform her that school for the children had been cancelled.

Eight-year-old Talia was bound to be upset that she wouldn't get to share her project that had been due that day, but Frisk knew it would only be pushed back to the next day. She knew without a doubt that Brandon would go stir crazy if she didn't think of something to keep both of her children busy.

She looked up when she felt Sans' hand on her back. He kissed her lightly before going to say goodbye to his children. Sadly, he didn't get the day off because of the snow. She followed him and watched as he hugged each child and gave them both a kiss on the nose.

"Why don't you get to stay home with us?" Brandon asked.

Sans smirked. "It's the curse of being an adult; bosses don't care if it snows."

Talia put her hands on her hips. "But grandpa's your boss."

He laughed. "Not really, sweetheart. My real boss is a few levels higher than grandpa. Besides, grandpa needs me at work today, so I have to go in anyway."

Neither Brandon nor Talia wanted to accept that answer. Frisk could tell he was having a hard time saying no to his kids. She knew if she asked him to stay home, he would. She also knew that Gaster really did need him in the lab; they were working something important.

Sans looked over at Frisk, a little desperate for help. He needed to go to work, but his soul ached at the looks on his kids' faces. She smiled and walked up to him, taking his hand.

"It's only for a few hours, guys," she said, squeezing his fingers. "Daddy will be home before you know it. Besides, we'll have lots of fun together."

He pulled her in for a hug and whispered a thank you into her ear. Her intervening hadn't exactly solved the matter of their wide eyes pleading with him to stay, but somehow it helped anyway. He supposed it was the reminder that he really would be home soon, and he'd get to spend the evening with them as usual.

"Drive safe, Sans," she said seriously. "I mean it. It's nasty out there."

He smiled and kissed her once more. "I will, babe."

Once he was gone and the kids had watched the car disappear down the street, Frisk decided it was time to get their minds off their dad and onto something fun.

"Who wants to make snow angels?"

Brandon was the first to raise a paw. "I do!"

"Me too!" Talia cried.

The three changed into their warm clothes and bundled up into coats, hats, and gloves before heading out the back door.

"Whoa!" Brandon yelled as he jumped into the snow. "It goes up to my waist!"

Talia gingerly stepped in before turning around and letting herself fall backward. Frisk smiled at both of them as she took out her phone and started snapping pictures.

"Alright, guys, I wanna see your best angels, and then we'll make a snowman."

"Mom, you gotta make one, too," Talia demanded.

After a few more pictures, she relented. Once all three had a chance to make an angel, they decided that Brandon's was the best.

"What do I win?" he asked.

Frisk laughed and ruffled the puff of fur between his ears. "You get to choose what we have for lunch."

"Sweet."

"What should we name our snowman?" Talia asked as they started to gather snow for the base of the body.

"I don't know. What do you think, Brandon?" Frisk looked at her son.

"It can't be Frosty," he grimaced. "Or that other snowman from that snow-lady movie."

"Olaf!" Talia cried. "Why can't it be Olaf?"

Brandon shook his head. "It just can't."

"How about, since you get to choose what we have for lunch, Talia gets to choose the snowman's name?" Frisk suggested.

Brandon groaned. "Fine, but not Frosty at least."

The three patted snow into place as Talia thought about what she'd name the creation. She finally had a good idea when the base was finished.

"How about Snowflake?"

"Yeah, I like it," Brandon said, nodding his head.

Frisk nodded as well. "Good job. Snowflake will be the best snowman."

"We should make two," Brandon said as he plopped some more snow on the second layer. "That way they can talk to each other. Do you know what snowmen say to each other?"

Frisk smiled to herself. "What do they say?"

"They tell each other to chill out."

Talia giggled. "Or that they're cool."

"What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?" Frisk asked.

The two kids thought about it for a minute as they continued to pat snow into a ball. It didn't take long for them to give up.

"Frostbite!"

"What do snowmen eat for lunch?" Talia asked. She didn't wait for anyone to answer. "Ice-bergers!"

"We need to give this guy some abs," Brandon said. He started to carve out the shape of a six pack. "That way, he can be the abdominal snowman."

The three were laughing at each other's jokes as they finished their project. They found some sticks for arms, then went inside to see what they could find for the face. When they couldn't find anything suitable, Brandon offered to use his paints. Frisk let the kids paint the face on the snowman knowing it would look horrific once it started to melt a little. That part didn't matter; her children were having fun.

She got a few pictures of them with the finished snowman before the two kids started to complain of being cold. They all went inside, changed out of their now-soaking clothes, and made hot chocolate.

As they sat at the table drinking their cocoa and warming up, Frisk thought about what they should do next. She was pretty much ready for a nap, but that was a long way off. She could tell by their faces that the kids were recharging as they warmed up.

"What do we want to do next?" she asked, looking between the two bunnies.

"Let's bake cookies," Talia suggested. Her nose twitched a little with excitement.

Brandon nodded. "Yeah, and then we can build a fort in the living room. Mom, can we camp in the living room tonight?"

"That would be cool!" Talia shouted. "We could get out our sleeping bags and everything. Dad would be so surprised."

Frisk loved the looks of excitement on their faces, but she wasn't sure how they could pull that off. She decided a fort couldn't hurt, but they'd have to wait and see about camping out.

She had both kids do most of the baking work, only giving instructions and helping out when needed. They were both already excellent in the kitchen thanks to the times they'd spent with their Uncle Papyrus, so she rarely needed to step in. They couldn't decide if they wanted to make chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies, so they decided they'd do both recipes.

Once the cookies were done, it was time for lunch. Brandon decided he wanted pizza for lunch. They all preferred their own home-made pizza, so the three got busy again in the kitchen.

"Do we have to clean up before we can make our fort?" Brandon asked.

Frisk laughed. "You already know the answer to that, Brandon."

He sighed. "I don't want to."

She patted his arm. "I know, honey, but you helped make the mess, so you have to help clean it up. Same for you, Talia." She could sense the look on her daughter's face.

Talia just groaned.

Frisk decided she'd make a game out of it. She wasn't sure how much fun the two actually had, but it didn't take long for the kitchen to get clean. Once that was finished, the three began to gather blankets and pillows to make a fort in the living room.

Frisk had to work a little extra hard to put her responsible adult away for a while as the kids jumped on the couch cushions and made a huge mess. Instead of allowing herself to worry about how much work it was going to be to clean back up, she decided she was going to have fun with this. They brought in kitchen chairs to add a little extra height to their fort.

Once it was finished, the kids laid down in the middle with their heads on Frisk's lap. She ran her fingers through their fur and played with their ears.

"This was fun, Mom," Brandon said with a grin. "We should do this more often."

"Totally," Talia agreed.

Frisk smiled. "Maybe one of these weekends we can convince your dad to join us."

"We should watch a movie in here," Brandon stated. "A cool one with lots of explosions."

Talia nodded. "Yeah, but it should also be about space."

Frisk grinned. "Well, if it has to have explosions and be about space, I know the perfect one."

She got out from under her kids and crawled out of the fort to get the movie. When she came back, she proudly held the cover out. "I think you're both old enough to watch this now."

Brandon took the movie and looked it over. Talia hovered close by to read it over his shoulder.

"What's it about?" Talia asked, trying to will her brother to turn the case over.

"It's about a project your dad and grandpa worked on about ten years ago. They're not in it since it's not a documentary, but it does mention them. They were called in to fix a problem that no other scientists at NASA could figure out. Of course, they solved it, and everything was fine, but it did get pretty scary for a month or so."

The kids were both enthralled. They had to see the movie about their dad. Frisk had the kids set the movie up while she made popcorn and got some drinks. They opened up the fort enough to see the TV, snuggled together on the floor with the kids on either side of Frisk, and started the movie.

Frisk would never get tired of the film. Sans despised it because of all the science mistakes and liberties they took with the storyline, but he still allowed it in his home. Frisk loved it simply because it gave her a better understanding of the work he did. Even though the movie only named the scientists by name and neither character had an actual role, their importance in the mission was implied.

As promised, the movie delivered explosions as the first rockets tested with the new technology were not successful. Luckily, no lives were lost. Both kids screeched with joy when their dad and grandpa's names were mentioned. Toward the end of the climax, Talia was tense with her paws gripped tightly around Frisk's arm. Brandon sat forward, his eyes glued to the screen. The resolution came quickly, and both kids breathed a sigh of relief when it was declared the main characters would survive their ordeal. Both kids cried when the astronauts were reunited with their families.

As the credits rolled, Frisk hugged her children and gave them a few minutes to recuperate. She had known they would love the movie even though it was an emotional roller coaster. The three talked about the parts they liked and what they didn't like. They all agreed that their favorite part—aside from hearing their relatives' names—was the ending.

The kids decided to play as characters from the movie while Frisk made dinner. She listened passively and smiled to herself as they ran around the house.

The past five years had been wonderful for Frisk. After she had what she called a mini meltdown, she thought long and hard about what she wanted to do with her life. It didn't take long to realize that she just wanted to be a mother and a wife. She had quit her job to be a full-time mom and had never once regretted her decision.

"Mom, can we get our sleeping bags out?" Brandon asked, out of breath from running.

"Pretty please?" Talia added. "We promise we'll be careful. We want to put them in the fort."

Frisk pursed her lips. "How about we wait for your dad to get home and we'll see what he thinks, okay?" She would rather they have help getting them down, and she didn't want to leave dinner unattended for that long.

"Okay," they grumbled in unison. They didn't stay upset—only a second later they were chasing each other back out of the room.

Dinner was finished as Frisk heard the car pull into the driveway. She found herself feeling a little giddy as she began to set the table.

As soon as the door opened, the kids ran toward Sans.

"DADDY!" They screamed and all but attacked him.

Sans laughed as the two bundles of energy nearly knocked him over. He hugged them both and gave them a kiss before extracting himself from their grasp long enough to take off his coat.

"We watched your movie today," Brandon gloated. "It was so cool! I really liked the new rocket with the boosters and stuff. That was the best."

Talia nodded. "Yeah, and that nasty old man who tried to tell everyone that nothing was wrong—ooh, I didn't like him."

Sans couldn't help but laugh again at the look on his daughter's face. He remembered that man vividly. Sans had made it his personal assignment to make sure the meddler got fired before the mission was over, and he had succeeded.

"Alright, guys, back up. Your mom needs some love, too." Frisk playfully pushed her way past the kids to wrap her arms around her husband.

Sans gave her a tight hug and a kiss. "Honey, I'm home."

"Good. The kids have something they want to show you."

"Oh?"

Frisk stepped back and let the children lead him to the living room. He stared for a moment before he grinned widely.

"This is great, you guys. Did you do this by yourselves? I hope Mom helped with the chairs on the couch." He gave her a quick glance.

Brandon laughed. "Of course she did. I think we'd be in trouble if we did that without asking."

Talia nodded with wide eyes. They'd be in so much trouble.

"Oh, hey Dad?"

Sans turned to Brandon. "Yes?"

"Can you help us get the sleeping bags down? We want to camp out in the living room tonight." Brandon gave his dad wide, pleading eyes.

Sans turned to Frisk.

"I told them they had to wait and see what you thought about a living room campout. It could be fun." Frisk shrugged.

"Can I think about it over dinner?"

The kids nodded, and they all migrated to the dining room. As they ate, Brandon and Talia told Sans all about their day. He decided he had to see Snowflake before they went to bed that night. He also decided that camping out in the living room could be fun. Both kids cheered when he told them so.

After they ate, everyone helped clean up the kitchen, then they went out back to show off the snowman. It was getting dark, and so too cold to stay out for long, but Sans was impressed with their handiwork. He and Frisk helped get the sleeping bags out as well as a few extra blankets in case it got cold in the night. They had to rearrange the fort only a little bit to fit everyone in.

Before they could snuggle in and call it a night, they had to do their nightly routine. Frisk helped Talia get her bath started as Sans picked out pajamas for both kids.

"Please remember not to shake off," Frisk pleaded as she turned the water off. "It really does get water everywhere. I've put a clean towel on the rack for you."

Talia nodded. "Okay, Mom."

As Talia bathed and Brandon took a shower in the other bathroom, Sans and Frisk took advantage of their brief alone time as they got ready for bed.

"How was your day?" Frisk asked.

Sans shrugged. "It was pretty good. I think we might have made some headway, but it's a little too soon to tell." He pulled her a little closer and kissed her. "I missed you guys."

She nodded. "We missed you too. We decided we need to make forts and watch movies in them more often. It was surprisingly fun. We want to do it when you're here to enjoy it with us, though."

He hugged her a little tighter. "I'd like that."

All too soon, the kids were clean, dry, and dressed. They were also tired.

They started arguing almost immediately after climbing into their sleeping bags.

"Scoot over, you space hog," Brandon whined.

"I'm not a hog!" Talia all but screeched.

"Both of you, calm down," Sans chided as he slipped into the fort. "There's plenty of space for everyone. Talia, why don't you scoot this way a little?" He pulled her sleeping bag a little closer to him. She nodded and immediately turned over to snuggled into his embrace. He kissed her head and reached out to gently scratch his son's head. "I love you both."

"Love you, too," they mumbled in unison.

Frisk was on the other side of the kids, snuggling with Brandon. She smiled peacefully as Sans read _Fluffy Bunny_ and answered Talia's whispered question about what happened next. Every time it was a different answer. Frisk was amazed that he hadn't run out of scenarios yet.

"After Fluffy Bunny made it home, they all went out dancing to celebrate."

Talia smiled tiredly. "That's silly."

He just kissed her head and situated himself so he was more comfortable. He took Frisk's hand in between the two kids and gently squeezed her fingers. He smiled to himself as she lightly squeezed back.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! This is the end of the story my friends. It has been a wonderful time writing it, but I think I'm ready to move on. Inspiration may strike again later, but I wouldn't count on it. Anyhow, thank you guys so much for the love you've given this little story. Love you all!


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